Group Fights
by SickMasochisticLioness
Summary: Sequal to Garnet Flight. The School and the Volturi have come together, and everyone is fighting to be one top. Even worse, someone is helping the wring people. And Bella's still a vulnerable human. Max Ride Twilight x-over. R&R, please.
1. New York

**AN: Hey, this is the sequel to Garnet Flight, using Dr. Numanua's wounderful story idea. I want reviews for this, so please give me some. Also, updates may be a while sometimes, but I will try my hardest to get them to you as soon as possible. Thanks a lot for reading this, I hope you like it. Oh and, you reallly need to read Garnet Flight first, or else this will make no sense.**

**Disclaimer: Nope nothing. This time I don't even own the plot, and I've never owned any of teh people. Except Nia, Adrain, and Artemis, thier mine. Even Artemis has disapeared int he last chapters of Garnet Flight and this chapter, I wonder where she went...**

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Group Fights

Chapter One

Adrian's Pov

Nia and I lived in the tallest building in New York. It was under construction, which was the only reason we lived there in the first place. We sat completely still as we contemplated how much longer we could risk staying in the city. I was betting not for long, as no doubt the Erasers would be coming soon. We stayed in New York to often to stay here ever get to stay for more then the week we've already been here. I fully expected Erasers to attack and force us to run from the area. I didn't know that it would be a phone call that sent us packing all the way across the country.

As we sat thinking, I stared unabashedly at Nia. Her dark hair, with only that one deep red streak. Her grey eyes, glaring at the sky with an upset look. Her wings, half spread to avoid getting cramped. She was beautiful. I felt bad for her; she had to run and fight just to stay alive. But she could fight too, and my pride fought with my sympathy. The ringing of a phone shook me out of my thoughts, which was fine as I wasn't really thinking coherently in the first place."Hey," Nia said into the phone that I had forced her to buy. There was a girl's voice on the other end, but I couldn't hear what she said. Nia grinned and said something about us being somewhere soon, and bringing the rest with us. What the heck was she talking about? Then Nia laughed and hung up.

"Okay, what the heck was going on there?"

"Bella's getting married." Nia half-sang to me, wow she sounded happy about something that wasn't even a real surprise.

"Yeah, and I suppose we are going to the wedding?" "Of course, Alice called to see if I would be a bridesmaid."

"So little Nia is going to be a bridesmaid; at least she should look pretty in the dress."

"Ha-ha, we need to go find the Flock, they're all invited too."

"Alright."

Now, the Flock doesn't stay in one place, so usually they are really hard to find. But for us they leave signs so that we can follow them until we catch up. I remember worrying that those signs could be followed by someone else one day, and that the Flock would be captured because of them. I still thought that it would eventually happen. Nia's best friend's wedding was supposed to be happy though, so I tried to ignore my returning worries. With all the hints laid around by the Flock, it only took us around two days to find them, and nothing really happened during those two days except Nia getting steadily more cheerful. I was starting too really like the idea of this wedding, just because of it's affect on her. And for the chance to see Nia in a dress, duh. That never happened, so I would enjoy the sight.

"Hey Nia, what's up?" As usual Max ignored me in her greetings. It wasn't that she disliked me; she just didn't see the point in talking to me since I would just look at her. And unlike Fang, my looks were lost on her. So she just ignored me.

"We're going to Forks." Nia was half-singing again,

"Bella's getting married."

"Nice, so why are you telling us?"

"You're coming too, Alice called to order your presence."

"That's awesome, does it mean that I get to wear a dress. 'Cause I bet that wearing a dress would be cool, then maybe I could get my picture made so that I can see myself all made up whenever I wanted. And I bet that—"

"Nudge that does mean that you can get a dress and I'm sure Alice will be obsessing over a camera. Now please be quiet while Max decides if you are going." Nia interrupted the mindless chatter.

"Sure, I got used to the Cullens. We might as well go for a visit," Max was glancing over to Fang and he nodded. Of course, she would never do anything without consulting her second. I smirked, and Max said she wasn't in love. That's exactly what Nia did when she made a decision, and I knew that Nia was very in love. Now we were all going to Forks, Washington, a little town where noting bad would happen to us. Yeah, right.

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**AN: Reviews, pretty please with sugar on top?**


	2. Aro

**AN: Wow, this took me so long to write that's it's not even funny. Even though you should be glad you got this, I'm never going to get my Geo. homework done in time after all day on the computer. Oh well, my Geo. teacher thinks I'm the best student ever, so I won't be in trouble. **

**No one reviewed, and I'm very disappointed. Therefore I will not be posting anymore until I get a little feedback to tell me that someone actually read this.**

**Disclaimer: No sir/ma'am. **

Chapter Two

Aro's POV

I have seen a lot of things in my life, both life and death. But this is new; in less then a year I have found ten different people—humans that I have thought that would make wonderful additions to my Guard. Isabella Swan, a lovely girl who could unconsciously turn aside the powers of our kind, and a group that calls themselves the Flock. A group of human children who were already super-human, I hardly dared to imagine what they could do as a part of the Volturi. I wanted them to join us, and then the Cullen boy would have to allow his little love to become one of us. I didn't want anything more from him, but he refused to give even that much, and so I would have to force his hand.

"Marcus, do you know of any particularly strong relationships in the group that came through Italy about four months ago?" Maybe we could lure them all here to speak with us, and only have to trick one of them. I hated tricking people; it had always seemed overly cruel. I didn't even like forcing young Edward.  
"They are all very close. It would only take one of the entire group to have the rest of them at our beck and call. However, if we get the dark boy, then our hold will be particularly strong. Or the blonde little girl, she is the group's little one. They all are extremely protective of her."  
"Let's take the blonde one, seems like the quickest." Caius had always preferred to get work done quickly, so that he could go back to whatever it was that he did.  
"That would work the best," Marcus chimed in. Marcus hated a job half-done, so I trusted that this really was the best way. Though I felt a little sorry for taking one so young, I had always felt pity for them. "Alright, but be careful. It might end up being easy for them to escape."

I started looking into those nine children, the ones with wings. One of them was here with me, helping me find other experiments created by the School. . She also helped me learn more about them, in exchange for the promise that I would change her. I thought she had to have a good reason to desire the change, but since her wishes mirrored my own I hadn't needed to pry. I searched for the place called the School, using all the resources that the Volturi had to spare. I finally found them, in California the same branch that most of the humans came from. She said that one of them was from New York, but I would learn about him later.  
Let's see here…

There was a good amount of information on the little band, as long as you knew where to look. The School didn't toss out any of their information, so I easily found anything that I was looking for. I even managed to see the children's testing records from all the experiments. I felt a little sorry for them when I read that they had to undergo experiments from the time that they were born, but it would be a help for the Volturi for flying children to join us.

The girl came in, telling me that it was time for her to go into town. I knew what that meant, Heidi was here with food. No matter what Carlisle said, I had no idea how he managed on only animal blood. Still the girl said she didn't want to be here. Confusing, but a simple touch had told me that it was a completely innocent desire. "You're going to have to get over your problems with hunting if you are to become one of us."  
"If and when, I'll hunt my own prey. I don't want to see people lured in like fish on a pole. I'll hunt." That was the same thing the youth had said every other time I asked. And her mind told me that it wasn't what bothered her so much. Still, I gave the same answer as always. "Alright."

Morals be damned I thought after hunting, that is the best taste that anyone could ever hope for. My food was mortal and dispensable. And they tasted like heaven. I languishingly walked back to the computer, and saw that the girl was back. "You're here, what do you need? Normally you don't return this quickly." I was excited; maybe this meant she was getting over everything. Or at least it meant that something interesting was going to happen. "I saw an Eraser. He said that he was sent to speak to you, so I ditched him by the back way." Goodness, I wondered how an Eraser knew about me. With my interest peaked, I told the girl to let him in.

"Hey, thanks for letting me in babe. Now as I leave I can have a little snack."  
"Do us all a favor and jump off a cliff. Wings in."  
"Oh, that's not the way to talk my little moon-dark child. Careful or the big bad wolf will come get you."  
"Screw the big bad wolf, here's Aro."  
"Aw… unfriendly aren't you?"

She let the young man in. Moving with animalistic grace, he looked like he was hunting instead of walking into a room. "Hello, I was sent by my employers to see about us maybe working with you." Wow, he suddenly became very official, instead of threatening the people that stayed with me.  
"What would you need us to do? Actually, it might be a better idea to wait for that until some friends of mine come in. If you would please?" I directed the last question to the girl, and heard her mutter, "Would it re-kill you to use my name?"  
"You will be called by your name soon enough." I called loud enough for her to hear. There was only one human that I called by name, and that girl was not a human for much longer, I could guarantee it. The girl came in only a couple of minutes later with both of my brothers.

"Brothers, this man would like to speak to us about an alliance of sorts. He's from the School I've told you about." Neither of my brothers did more then nod. "Well then, what kind of alliance are we talking about?"  
"My bosses will find the Flock you've been asking about, eliminating the risk of a human knowing about you, in exchange for some venom for our experiments. Of course, no one would know what kind of venom it was. Also we could bring a Miss. Isabella Swan to you, for the same price. We also have one more offer. Ten of the creatures like me, often called Erasers, could come and be transformed to join your ranks." The School had thought this out. And to make things even better, I could let them do some experiments that I've been interested in, and for the pleasure they would give us almost twenty strong warriors.

"Child, take him to get some snacks in the city while we discuss this."  
"I don't think that's wise. The two of us don't get along very well, and I would _hate_ to kill your guest."  
"We both know that you would love the opportunity. And you both are aware that if one of you returned without the other, then whoever was left would die. Now go."

I told the two humans that the three leaders of the Volturi needed to talk, but none of us said more then three sentences and I was the only one that did that. Marcus was first to hold out his hand, showing me what he thought about the offer. _It is tempting, but we might loose the girl. _A moments pause before,_ I think we should go for it regardless, with their help the girl could become useless anyways._ Next was Caius, _lets use them, they could do the work. And the price is not to terrible_"Then it's decided," I spoke aloud, "We are going to let the School help us, and we are going to pay their price. This should be an interesting way to go about it, allying with humans."

The humans returned, and I saw that the man had in fact gotten into a fight with the girl. I watched as they scowled at each other. Then I told them both that we were glad to accept their offer for a bargain. The girl stormed out of the room screaming curses of me and all my kin. I would tell her later that all of my kin were long dead. Then the man looked at me with a smirk. "Don't worry about her. Miss. Artemis Hastings has always been a little high strung."  
"Yes I know. I don't doubt that she will come around, I will send Demetri to talk some sense into her."


	3. Wedding Plans

**AN: Before you all kill me, I know this took for-freaking-ever. I'm so sorry, and I have no really good excuse. But it's a little longer then ususal, and I hope that help to make up for the lateness. **

**Disclaimer: The ususal.**

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Chapter Three

Bella POV

I'm getting married to Edward Anthony Masen Cullen. I tried to put my feelings into words, but I had no idea what to say. I was happy but also _very_ nervous. I wasn't ready to be married, but I would get to be with Edward forever. Part of our bargain was that I was going to be changed. All I had to do for now was tell Charlie. Edward stood behind me, silently assuring me that everything was going to be okay, but personally, I wasn't so sure.

We walked into the house, and saw Charlie sitting on the couch with a game on.

"Hey Dad, we… we have something that we want to tell you."

"What's up kiddo?" He looked up from the T.V. to watch Edward and myself.

"Umm… well, Edward proposed to me and I sort of accepted."

"You did what?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm.

"I'm getting married to the man I love more then anyone else in the world. Dad I want this more then anything else." It wasn't quite the truth, I didn't want to marry. I wanted to loose my mortality, but I thought that my true desire would go over even less wonderfully.

"Do you remember when he left you? You were broken, and nothing we could do would fix you. You can't marry him that would make a repetition worse." Edward tightened his grasp on my waist, and I knew that the reminder of what his actions had accidentally caused was hurting him. I put my hand gently over his, giving what comfort I could.

"I won't be leaving again sir. That was a mistake and it would cause me something beyond mental physical torture to do it again."

"I'm going to do this Dad." Charlie glared at Edward, and it was then I decided that it was time for us to leave.

As soon as Edward had put me into his Volvo, I broke down in tears. I knew that Charlie didn't like Edward, but I still wanted my father's blessing on my marriage.

"Bella love, he'll get better about it. He's just surprised that you decided to get married so young, and he's a little upset that you're marrying me of all people."

"I know. It's just, I really needed his approval."

"He will. If nothing else, Nia and Alice can do some convincing." I smiled at the idea of Nia and Alice grouping together against Charlie. Nia would no doubt consider hitting him upside the head until he agreed. Alice would just go on and on about how I would be really related to her until he said yes.

"Better?"

"Yeah, thanks Edward."

With Edward's insane driving, we were back at the Cullens' before I had time to think things through. We were up in his room before I realized that something was odd about Edward's comforting statements in the car. Nia wasn't in Forks, she left a few weeks ago.

"Why did you say Nia would help? She's off across the country with Adrian and the Flock."

"Did you think that she would miss your wedding? She's on her way now." Nia and the Flock were coming for a visit, and at the very least they would make the werewolves back off. The Pack had been giving everyone a lot of trouble lately, mostly because Jake was so upset about me and Edward.

The week it took for Nia and the Flock to arrive seemed to last much longer. Six days after our visit, Charlie was still furious and I was staying over at the Cullen's house. There was a knock at the door, and Esme walked over to get it with a grin. I knew that she would be aware who it was; she would be able to smell them just like always. So I sat and waited, hoping her smile meant that it was the Flock. Then Esme walked back in the room, Nia following her closely. Before I could so much as stand up, Alice was half-strangling the girl in a bone crushing hug.

"Alice, if you don't let go I'm going to shoot you. Not that it would do you any harm…"

"No it wouldn't, which frees me to hug you all I want."

"It does _not_, even if I can't think of any working threats at the moment," Nia argued heatedly.

"I agree with Nia," the person in question smirked at her quiet boyfriend standing up for her.

"Hey Bella, Max is coming but she had to stop to make Iggy drop off some bombs before he came in. She said that he had so many that you would think he was freaking suicidal." I laughed as I gave my old friend a timid hug, which she returned.

"Alice, is Nia one of my bridesmaids?"

"Of course she is. It's me, her, Rosalie, and Max." I nodded my pleasure of her plans, and then she went on, "We're going to get you a dress and maybe our dresses as well."

"Are you coming too, Nia?"

"Well duh, Bella. Like hell I'm missing you dressing up for hours." Max walked into the room just in time to hear Nia's last careless comment, and immediately replied, "Language Nia, the Flock is coming."

Emmett laughed at Nia's submission only to hear her mutter, "Max is leader. I follow her."

"And the darling Max won't let you forget it for a one freaking second." Iggy walked in already mouthing off, but none of us minded. We all loved his banter really, it made us laugh.

"Hey Alice, so we need to leave?" Nia wanted to leave for some reason; I wondered absently what was wrong. Alice wanted to leave too, but I knew that her behavior would just be excitement about shopping.

Until we left, I had no idea that Esme and Rosalie was coming with us as well. We started with a small boutique in Port Angeles, where Alice said that we probably wouldn't find much. I had no idea why she was looking if that was so, but she was. Racks and racks of white dresses later, Alice gave up on a dress for me, and sent us to look at bridesmaid dresses. She also wanted to convince me to have the colors be bright blues, while I would prefer something less—eye catching. I had to have those colors in my bouquet, after all. We were lightly arguing on the subject, when Esme and Nia went off to a corner of the store. I didn't even notice it when they came back holding four dresses.

"Hey, do these colors work? They aren't showy, but they are pretty," Esme asked. She held up the dresses. They were a simple steel blue, with a navy sash tied around the waist. They looked slightly Grecian with draping around the torso and almost waviness around the bottom.

"Let's go try these things on so that we can see how they fit." Nia handed out the dresses to each of the girls.

It only took a second for them to come back out to show me. The dresses looked like they were made just for them, and I knew that no matter what dress they got me, I was going to look like a pauper in comparison. Alice grinned, "These are what we're wearing. Nia and Esme chose perfectly." I smiled agreement at her and carefully failed to look at the cash register as the clerk rang then up. I was sure that those gown cost way more then I was comfortable with the Cullen's spending on my wedding.

After we left that boutique, we all drove up to Seattle where Alice swore we would find my dress. We went into boutique after boutique, looking at literally hundreds of gowns. After four hours of searching, Max came to trumps; with a dress that Alice liked enough to have me try on. Then she gave me all the dresses that she had found for me and ushered me into the fitting rooms. I slipped into the dress that Max had found before walking out to let someone else hook it up. They all stopped dead when I came out. "That's it; I told you we would find your dress today. You look _amazing._" Alice was jumping up and down so fast that I thought that she might alert everyone that she wasn't human. "Well Alice, are you planning on fastening it for me, or just mooning over it?" Everyone laughed as Nia said, "Maybe I should be in charge of this." She quickly did up the dress and when she realized the perfect fit, Alice almost threw me back into the dressing rooms.

"Hurry up and take that off so we can buy it for you." I heard the sound of someone being hit and guessed that Rosalie ad gotten tired of Alice's over-excitement.

When I came back out in my jeans and a T-shirt, Alice grabbed the dress from me before I had the opportunity to tell her that I would like to pay for my own dress at the very least. Nia and Max both giggled at my scowl, something that I wouldn't guess of either of them; they weren't the giggling type. Nia grinned as my look went from anger to confusion.

"You might not want to look at the price tag."

"I doubt I want to see. Why does that girl refuse to let me buy my own things? I could have paid for it."

"Because money burns a hole in Alice's pocketbook and if she doesn't spend it she goes even crazier then she is normally."

"Well can she please not spend it on me? I hate people spending money on me."

"Sorry, I think that's out of the question. She's paid so let's go." Max was still laughing as we walked out the door, and Alice joined her.

"Now we can go back to the house. I'm sure Edward has been missing his fiancée, Bella." Max's laugh grew more pronounced at my blush. In a rare moment of Nia standing up for me she said, "Well, at least she admits that she's in love with him…. unlike some people."

"I'm _not_ in love with my best friend. That's what he is, my best friend. Now come on, as we have to go meet up with your _boyfriend._"

"Those jabs have never worked before Max, but let's go as I would like to see Adrian." Now that was something that I would agree with. We were going home, which meant we were done shopping and wedding planning for the day. Thank you God.


	4. I Do

**AN: Hey, I'm back, and hopefully I will remain back until I leave for Europe in three weeks. Until then, lets hope to get regular updates, I miss my writing time. Thanks to Dr. Numana for beta-ing this, I fear that you were subjected to more typos then most can stand, so I thank you. : ) Also, plz review for the news makes me very happy.**

**Disclaimer: You know what is mine and what isn't, I don't need to inform you of teh shame of not owning Edward.**

Group Fights 4

Edward POV

Bella Swan. Bella Cullen.

Human. Vampire.

The love of my life, no matter how many other words that describe her change. I was pacing in my tux, half-listening to my family's thoughts. The first set of ideas I came across belonged to Esme. _I'm so glad they're getting married. And that he is going to change Bella. I know he doesn't want to, but it will please Bella so much, it will be worth it. _Esme could comfort you even if she didn't know that she was doing it. I skimmed over the other girl's thoughts. They were just thinking about how Bella needed to lighten up, and that she wouldn't do anything wrong. Silly Bella, like I would care even if she did.

Carlisle came out to tell me that it was time to go outside to the spot that Bella had chosen to get married. A few hundred feet behind our house was a stream, one that held a slight memory of the meadow with wildflowers in bloom all around it. I had asked if Bella wanted to get married in the meadow, but she said that the meadow was _our_ place, and that she would be happier if no one else ever saw us there. So I agreed to have it here, and truth be told I loved the fact that Bella considered the meadow to be ours, and nobody else's. I liked the idea of something being _ours_ and no one else's.

The bridesmaids walked down the aisle, and I half heard their mates' gasps of astonishment. Adrian's thoughts held so much shock at seeing Nia in a skirt that he was practically screaming in my head, but I was far too eager to be annoyed with him at the moment. Then Bella walked down the aisle, and I understood the other guys shock when their mates walked towards them. If they saw anything in the people they loved like what I saw in her, I'm surprised that they didn't run up to them—which was exactly what I felt the overwhelming urge to do—and embrace them right on the spot. In fact, I just barely managed not to.

Charlie was walking beside her, looking protective and nervous. I hardly noticed him, but then his thoughts caught my attention. _She is getting married. I missed half her childhood, and now its over. She's going to be _his_ now, not mine. I'll miss her. _They got closer to me, and I was still captivated by her. Charlie still thought about loosing her, and I was a little bit distracted for a moment. He didn't know how right he was, I was taking her, and I wouldn't be giving her back. And yet, my selfishness would not allow me to return her to her friends, her family. Then she looked at me, blushing as ever, and I was again taken in by her.

As Bella came up the stairs of the altar, I thought over what I had chosen as my wedding vows. They weren't just vows, and I had spoken almost all of it to her one night a few months ago, but they were the closest I would ever be able to telling her how I felt with mere words. Bella stood in front of me now, and I instinctively grabbed her hands in mine. The priest spoke, but I only half heard his words. Finally, I was able to promise Bella all the things that I was capable to give, and show her how much I care for her. The priest quieted, and I nervously began to speak.

"Before you Bella, my world was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars—points of light and reason. … And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. I love you Bella, I love the beauty you bring into my world. I want you, and only you, for the rest of eternity. I promise to be yours for the rest of time, no matter what happens. I love _you_." Bella smiled wonderfully at me. I grinned back, trying not to laugh at her expression as it changed to nervous. She was worried that I wouldn't like whatever she had written.

"Edward, I love you so much and I'm not sure how I can express it. My world revolves around you, and nothing else. I promise you everything I have to give and all the love in my heart. For the rest of eternity, I am yours."

The priest said that I could kiss the bride, and I certainly did. Her lips felt amazing, and it was so easy to feel how much she loved me. For the first time since I fell in love with her, I felt no guilt for pulling her into my world. The way she stood there in my arms told me everything I needed to know. She wanted this, more then anything else she had wanted before. My thoughts on being what I was were irrelevant, because she didn't agree.

As soon as the kiss ended, the guilt returned to me. She didn't need to be a part of this damned existence. She saw the look on my face, and I knew that she recognized it.

"You're not reconsidering, are you?"

"Never love, unless you are." I hoped she was.

"Trading anything for eternity for you? My vows stand, for eternity."

"As do mine." I would do it. The guilt—that could always fade. But I knew that my Bella wanted this, and I had never been able to deny her anything for long. She would become one of us.

I smiled, determined that my problems wouldn't become Bella's. Not on this day, today was hers—her day to be happy. In following with this determination, I smiled and gave Bella a kiss. I could feel her worried smile as I leaned into her, but I ignored it. I could always play with what she remembered, and now some work was required.

After I made sure that she had totally forgotten my reluctance to damn her, I slipped away from her. But not much, far less then a hair's-breath. I didn't want to be away from her. In fact I wanted to be near, but the DJ had started playing the song for the dance of the groom and the bride, and I had to get us started. Bella would never volunteer to dance.

In spite of her unwillingness, she was beautiful on the dance floor. Every time she came close to tripping was endearing, every time I caught her elated me. I stepped aside as she danced with Charlie. They were both looking very nervous but then I was nervous too. There was a good chance Bella would fall, and I couldn't be there to catch her.

Sure enough, there was a good amount of clumsiness in the dance, and yet my _wife_ looked perfect. Charlie's thoughts all rotated on the thought that Bella wasn't his anymore, that she was partially her own person and partially mine. She was mine—that was nice to hear from the man that still did not really trust me with his daughter's heart. Not that I was trustworthy.

As soon as the dance was over, I was with her again. We danced, and just kept dancing, song after song. Nia just smiled at us, shaking her hands at us in a "go on" fashion.

"Time to run," she mouthed. I understood, we had been here for nearly four hours, though I hadn't even noticed the passage of time.

Good byes didn't take long, just a few congratulations and promises that Bella and I would be back from our honeymoon soon. Then I slipped Bella into my Ashton Martin. We were just going to Vancouver for the weekend, but that would be enough. Bella had insisted on that, and I couldn't resist her wishes for long. I drove out of down the street slowly, for Charlie's sake, but as soon as we were out of sight, I started to push the car faster.

"In a hurry, Edward?"

"Just want to spend some time alone with you." She smiled as I pushed the car over 180.

"I'll let the speed limit rules slide for tonight," she murmured. I just laughed; I had been hoping she would say just that.


	5. Attack Ideas

**AN: Hey, this is a bit better timing. I don't think that I can get another chapter out before I go to Europe, but it won't be for lack of trying! I'm about half a page to a page in, so it might not be quite ready by Sun. Thank you Dr. Numana for beta-ing, you are just to kind. Please feel free to review, the more the merrier. **

**Disclaimer: This isn't mine: so very very depressing. I think I'll survive though. **

Group Fights

Chapter 7

Alice POV

Silently thanking Adrian for catching me, I sank quickly into a vision.

_Edward and Bella were in their meadow. Victoria was there, with two others behind her. One a recognized as Jane, but the other I didn't know. He was a handsome man, about six three with deep brown hair. He looked as if he had brown eyes, bordering on black, but I couldn't be sure with the distance. He had a canine appearance, even more so then the werewolves. And most amazingly, he was some kind of human, maybe even a werewolf in actuality. None of this was looking good. My brother was standing protectively in front of Bella, a now familiar look of determination coloring his features. This would be a fight to the death. _

The vision was a picture—the frozen image of a possibility. That meant that it wasn't certain, I could stop it. It was in the meadow and at the moment they were headed to Seattle, so for now they were safe. Great, that meant I could think of something.

As soon as I had stored the picture in my memory, I looked over at Edward. He hadn't even notice me fall, entranced as he was by his bride. I threw a gesture as Nia to make her get the couple to go ahead and leave. A few smiles and glances from her had them on their way.

They were gone, so I whispered to Nia, Max, and Fang to join me. After a quick thought, I also called Jasper and Carlisle. We might not be able to afford Carlisle being left out, and I would end up telling Jazzy anyways.

Hey everyone, I've had a vision—" Adrian interrupted me by walking into the room.

"I already know you had a vision, and that would be enough to make Edward suspicious anyways."

"Okay, it was about Edward and Bella, and the Volturi were there, namely Jane, along with Victoria and a guy I didn't recognize." I went on to describe him, and with every word the people that had been to the School grew more and more upset.

"Ari." Fang said. I think it was about the second thing that I'd ever heard form him. He just looked over at Max as she sent out very strong "I'm freaking out" vibes.

"So they were cornering Edward and Bella in their meadow."

"Bad, that means that they've all agreed on something long enough to chase after us."

"Hmmm… I wonder if we can make them disagree again. That would help us, and have a certain amount of entertainment value."

"Entertainment value?" Carlisle wasn't as used to Nia's love of a good fight as the rest of us were.

"Yeah, I would love to see the Volturi kick the School's ass."

"Except that if they fight then the vampires might end up changing Erasers. That wouldn't work so well…"

"Good point Adrian. We'll have to think of a different plan." Okay, I think they've missed the point here.

"What about protecting Edward and Bella? That was the reason that I'm telling all of you." Honestly, why can't they concentrate? This was a rather simple discussion, even if what we're trying to do is not so simple.

"Of course we haven't forgotten. If we can beat them all soundly before hand, they can't very well come after our favorite couple, now can they?"

"That only works if you know for certain you can beat them so disastrously that they _can't_ come for you again." Carlisle was upset by that, he knew that it meant that we would most likely have to go up against the Volturi, and kill many of them.

"So you are saying that we have to what? Murder them all in their sleep?"

"Sure, I was made to be an assassin. I would enjoy killing the Erasers. Maybe I could get the Volturi, but I'm not so sure. There are a lot of them."

"Nia, you can't actually be considering this. Why don't we just do what Alice said and keep up a solid defense on Bella and Edward?"

"Because you know as well as I do that if they get away once they will come again. Much as I hate to use clichés, the best defense is a good offence."

Max's face adopted a shocked look, and she spit out, "Artemis. If we're having these issues then she might be on the receiving end of them as well."

"I'll go get her; I taught her how to leave signs about where she had been."

"I'm going to join you."

"No, you need to help out here if you don't mind. You're almost as good at this at me."

"I don't like it, but alright."

I skimmed over the future, looking to see if Nia's decision would make a drastic difference in the future. I didn't see any change, so I let Nia go look for her sister. Otherwise I would have told her what would have happened, and told her not to go. She swept off, the flowing skirt of her dress twisting around her legs in a way that I knew Adrian was silently admiring. I looked over at him.

"We have bigger problems then her looks," I mouthed.

"I know, I just—" He wasn't going to finish that—whatever else he was, sentimental was not on the list.

"You know that I'll still get everything done that needs doing." He just glared at me and looked at Carlisle. "I don't like it at all, but Nia's argument makes sense. We need to beat them to the point where they won't be coming back."

"We can't attack Volterra, there aren't enough of us."

"Could we make the problem of the School disappear?" My husband never forgot military planning, no matter how much he had hated it."

"That works really well actually." You could see Adrian thinking about it. "Then we only have to worry about the Volturi, whom we've been preparing for anyways. We can so handle this as long as we think first. I'm guessing Edward and Bella aren't to know?"

"I thought it best if we didn't get either of them mad at each other over what we could hopefully handle on our own. If it even looks like it is getting out of hand, we tell."

"Cool, I don't care either way, I just want to get this going before we have to worry about running out of time."

Leaving the boys to discuss planning and knowing that I would be useless until they had some ideas, I went to clean up after the reception. Max and her almost silent shadow followed, with Max seemingly in a rather demanding mood. "Is my Flock in any danger with this going on?" I scanned the future again, this time checking on the Flock.

"They'll be fine, the School has been distracted by us. You can stay or you can leave, 'cause everyone is going to be after Forks."

Max looked torn—her Flock and her need to protect people. Yes, Nia had shared that story about her facing off a boy with a gun to protect a random girl.

"I'll stay, and when things heat up Fang will take the rest of the Flock to see Ella." Of course Fang didn't even show that he had heard. I swear, that kid could creep me out, I had to get Jasper to tell me if he even had emotions or not.

Max started to help me clean, and Fang got all the decorations boxed up as we took them down. Chores that would have taken most people four or five hours took us a little over two and a half.

"How much longer should the others be?" Why did Max need them, did she have any plans?

"I'm not sure, their plans keep changing every time someone objects to something. I can't believe that its taken them this long, but they can't decide on something. Even though they've spent half the time going over all the powers and abilities of both the School and the Volturi. I think we're stuck just waiting for them, but in the meantime, it would be a good idea if we went over all those abilities. It's not going to be fun, but I suppose we have no real choice."

Max highlighted what the School could give the Volturi, mostly Eraser fighters and close to unlimited scientific knowledge on humans. The Volturi could use that to get useful gifts for their Guard, so I betted that it was the chief reason for the alliance on their side of the bargain. That and the fact that the School could experiment on humans, without the Volturi having to work around the blood. Really other then that the School had nothing to offer, so they weren't the biggest problem for us to tackle.

The Volturi were the biggest issue, as hopefully Victoria would just be a single vampire with a strong will, and therefore just needed to be counted in with the tally of vampire warriors, not made a whole enemy grouping. On the other hand, the Volturi had all the money and will in the world. And an army of the undead whom will follow their every command. I told her and Fang every thing that they had ever done, and of all the vision I had ever had of their commands.

I wondered what we could do to stop them. We would do something, but we needed to figure out exactly what would happen. I hoped Nia would get back before the Flock left, we needed all the fighters and all the planners we could get.


	6. Volterra

**AN: Hello, I am back from Europe and back to my precious computer. So in short I can write again. Also, the next chapter is written, but not edited or sent to my beta yet, so it might be a few days. And it's really short, so it's more like a start to a new chapter that I just happened to seperate into it's own little world. I should probably let you get to reading now...**

**Disclaimer: I never haved owned anything but my guitar (the computer is my parents really). This hasn't changed.**

Group Fights Chapter 5

Nia Pov

Oh my God. I feel so much better now that my wings weren't held so tightly against my back. Instead they were loose, the feathers catching every breath of air in the area. The first place I had to go was the Cullen's to get my belongings. Then I had to get out the door, before any of the others got there. I knew that Alice wanted to keep this on the down low and all of the people—well mutants and undead—who weren't meeting with her would be back to the house soon.

In the interest of getting out of the house quickly, I decided to just change out in the woods. I slipped deep into the forest, at least a couple of miles out from the house. I started working on the zipper of the dress, but I didn't even get it down a whole inch before a sound stopped me.

"Alright, I know someone is there, so either go away or come up where I can see you. I don't care which."

"Little girl scared of me? You should be you know." A vicious looking redhead came at me from some bushes. I had a feeling that this was Victoria, and boy did she need a good butt kicking.

"No actually, I just don't like being a slut," I cast a disapproving look at her risqué clothes, obviously worn for hunting reasons. "And undressing in front of other people qualifies. Now you look hungry so I'll leave you to it bloodsucker." Wow, I didn't usually act this stupid. Even though I _did_ know why I was being such a brat. I was picking a fight with her, because she wanted to hurt my friend.

"You're right, I am hungry, and you would make the perfect snack."

"I'm sure I would taste quite gamey. Very unsavory."

She jumped at me. I smiled, ducking under her arm. "Can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!" She scowled, and I ran. Now she had stopped playing with me. That first jump had just been a game, she wanted to scare me. The only problem was that my teenage years had all taken place in a mire of unimaginably horrible occurrences, with only a few things dispersed in between. I didn't scare easily. She ran at vampire speed, and I jumped straight up. It was harder to take off this way, but I didn't exactly have time for a running start. Anyways, I wasn't planning on a take off.

Jasper had told me at one point that there was no way that a human had a chance against a vampire, but I wasn't a human, now was I? I grabbed the branch that I had positioned myself under. I flipped over the branch. "You need some more practice."

I checked my back for the pack I had stowed there as soon as I heard Victoria. Good, flying in a skirt wouldn't be fun. And that thing held food that I would probably need. I was already on the move, and apparently Victoria had given up on me for easier prey. God did I feel sorry for the people of Port Angeles and Forks right about now. Speaking of, I'd better warn certain members of that population of Victoria's proximity.

_Angel, can you pass something on to Alice and Carlisle for me?_

_Yeah._

_Thanks, tell them that I just had a bit of a run in with Victoria about two miles out from their house. Don't tell Adrian, he'll kind of freak._

_Got it. Are you hurt or anything? _I could tell that she wasn't really worried. If I had been hut I would have followed Victoria if possible, and if that couldn't happen then I would return to the house to tell everyone and to pick up the stuff I needed to take care of myself.

_Nope, I jumped into a tree and then she apparently gave up. _

_Good. You're not coming back are you? _

_No, but Adrian will be staying._

_Alright._

I left quickly, wanting to be gone if a certain redheaded vampire returned.

As soon as I was far enough away, I slipped out of that dress. It was beautiful, even after its little trip through the forest. I couldn't move around easily in it though—that's one of the reasons that I hadn't been able to really fight with Victoria. Well, that and I needed to practice with the Cullens more. I slipped into a pair of jeans and a ratty black t-shirt. The clothes of a fighter.

First things first. When we all came, we agreed on a spot to leave the first clue to where we had gone so that we could find each other. There was a spot right behind the Cullen's house where you could find lots of small stones. There was an innocent looking group of rocks, ones that could have easily just fallen that way. But they didn't. That was the pattern for Artemis. We each had a pattern, one that we could make out of rocks or sticks. We also had different symbols for different groups, but that wasn't relevant. I took off in the direction that the mark indicated, barely noticing that I was heading east.

As I flew, I thought. Where could Artemis be headed? I saw a state park and landed. If there was another sign anywhere close, then it would be here. Northeast. Artemis did well, remembering to put down signs every time she stopped at a likely looking spot. North canceled out Phoenix, but I had long ago forbidden Artemis to go anywhere near our old house anyways. Neither of us could go there without backup. Well, I had, but I didn't tell her that.

New York was where I would go if I was her. But I wasn't, and the Big Apple was mine and Adrian's place. Artemis had never shown any interest in it, even when she heard me describe it to Bella, with lots of adjectives like awesome and beautiful. And I thought very little was beautiful. But as I checked marks across the country, it was exactly where I ended up. Why the heck did Artemis come here? Then her marks in Central Park led to the docks. Why on earth would the girl go to the docks? Now it was time for some real tracking, because she hadn't left any more marks.

"Hello sir, have you seen a girl around here in the past few weeks? You'd have noticed her if she came: blonde, model-like, tall. Oh, and she would have had a backpack with her." I carefully leaned over him, making sure to give him a fair look at the rip in my shirt that went right across my stomach. That was the other reason I had chosen this shirt, it made me look like a slut. And that could be useful.

"Umm…yeah. About two weeks ago, she boarded a yacht with this guy. Looked about three or four years older then her. He was wearing a long black robe, I figured he was her boyfriend, 'cause she was in all black too. Do you need her for something, 'cause I can get the name of the yacht."

That was why I had chosen a dock manager to get my answers from. He could get almost any piece of information I needed. "Yes please, that my sister and I think she ran off to go on vacation with her older boyfriend. Our parents had forbidden it, and I need to find her before they call the police."

"Oh, okay then. Come on and we can get into the records."

"Thank you sir." I gave him the sweetest smile that I could manage, making sure to let it contain all the gratitude that I could muster up. We walked up to the small building setting on the harbor. Perfect, I was now walking into a small, solitary building with a strange man whom had to have had some inappropriate thoughts about my body. In fact, I had made sure he had those thoughts. God, I can be such an idiot.

"Here we are, just make yourself comfortable while I boot up the computer." So at least he wasn't going to make a move on me.

"Alright." I sat on an old chair, and looked at the comfortable surroundings. It was definitely an office, the design sort of made that much obvious. Yet, it was just as obvious that it belonged to someone who didn't like life in an office, and tried to disguise the room's purpose as much as possible. Every chair was huge as in they looked like they belonged in a freaking library. He worked on the laptop sitting on the desk.

"Here it is. The yacht was a small one, but there was an extra gas tank attached like they were going on a long haul. I make people tell me if they have more then a certain amount of gas on board, just in case there is a fire or something. The yacht was named _Romance's Death_. It's registered to a Demetri Dispiacere, and I have him as leaving two weeks and one day ago."

"Thanks, hopefully I can find her quickly now, I know where Demetri was planning on going. I'm just glad she went with Demetri instead of some stranger."

"I understand. I have three siblings, and I would worry too."

"I have to go, I think—did they have enough fuel on board to get to Italy?"

"It might be tight, but if they stopped in Spain then they would be fine."

"Great. Thanks again."

"You're welcome. You might want to get going."

"I will."

I smiled at him again. So, Artemis went to Italy with the Volturi. I went immediately to the airport.

"Hey, I need a ticket to Italy. Do you have a plane going over there soon?"

"Yeah, but you have to be 18 to buy a ticket. And you have to have I.D."

"Well, I'm glad that I have I.D. Almost as glad about the fact that I'm 18." I fished out the fake I.D. that Jasper had made me months ago, bumping my age up a few months. I grabbed the credit card that had again been put in my luggage. Alice would never let me leave without one, and I felt no guilt about using it to find Artemis. "Here you go, is this sufficient?"

"Yes, that will do nicely. Now before I give you an international ticket, may I see your passport?"

"Sure, here you go." I handed her the passport that Jasper had given me. _Thank you God for Jasper and his very through foraging skills. _

"Go ahead to the terminal. That flight will be boarding in five minutes."

"Thank you ma'am."

Airplanes are some of the most boring places in history. Right up there with waiting rooms and clothing stores. I sat and waited to reach Italy, barely seeing the in flight movie or TV stations. I was too worried. The School had an alliance with the Volturi, and so what did my sister do? She ran off to the Volturi like a curious kitten. At this rate, if the Volturi didn't kill her, I would. I got off the plane after a long ten hours. I walked the streets of Volterra, remembering the stories that Alice had told me about the place. I was looking for a castle, and a good sized one at that.

Sure enough, Alice hadn't steered me wrong. I wondered vaguely if she knew that I would come here when she told me those stories. I looked at the castle appraisingly. I would be difficult to escape if I got caught up in there. I would certainly get lost easily, even with my since of direction. And there would be more then I could see under ground. Perfect, I needed a challenge. I walked up to the gates.

My life would be so much easier if the vampires didn't know of their little guest for as long as possible. I looked at the gates. Ornate, made for looks as much as to keep out intruders. Climbing up the beautiful fence was as easy as saying my own name. I hopped down the last step, thinking that the great powerful Volturi were thwarted by a girl with a little tiny bit of rock climbing skills. Or a child with a fence around their yard. I needed to find a place where I could hide out until they brought in their next meal; that was my opportunity. "Crap," I whispered so quietly that even I couldn't hear it. Immediate guilt hit me when I realized that I had just thought of those poor people's deaths as an opportunity. But there was nothing to do about it now. The thought had come, and it was correct.

For a freaking week at least I snuck back and forth into the castle. I couldn't sleep inside the gates, nor was there any food. So I had to venture out to gather supplies and find something that could act as a bed. In the end I just slept on the ground at the back of some hotel. I got to take food from the hotel restaurant when no one was looking, so it was a win-win situation. At this moment though, I was in my hiding place at the castle. When I heard some vampire's voice, I turned around really slowly, hoping that they wouldn't see me.

They didn't, and to make it worse, there was no they. It was one vampire talking to a crowd of humans. _Ring the dinner bell, chows walking through the doors. _

"Volturi castle was built in the 1500's, and since then has remained in the Volturi family. Despite recent pressure to sell to the city heritage organization, the family has steadfastly refused and is, by all accounts, determined to keep the family home in good condition and with the same décor that was put in during its creation. We are now entering the—" With that I stopped listening. I didn't need the history of the building, and at least half of the information was probably false anyways.

Now it was fun time. I slipped into the building, the sounds of my heartbeat and breathing now masked by all the other humans in the building. I started looking around, wondering how Artemis had ended up here. She hadn't been hurt in coming, because all the way up 'til the plane I had been able to find her marks, pointing me in the right direction. I didn't think someone who took her without her consent would let her leave marks that told others where to find her. So why was she here? Did she find out about the Volturi being after Bella? But she wouldn't come here for that, she would have just told us and let us muddle it out. I was thinking on it as I walked.

I saw a flash of feathers swirling down a hallway, and I followed instinctively. They were the same glossy shade as Artemis's, but they also meant that she saw no reason to sneak around the castle. She was invited. Then I heard a voice that sent me right back to cowering in the hallway. "When can we get to it? Dad is eager to have his precious daughter back." Ari was in Volturi castle, in the same room as Artemis, and there was no fighting. In fact, they were just… talking.

"As soon as we can weed away some of the wolves. Do you want to go up against the full Pack?" I didn't recognize this voice, but its cold beauty meant that it was a vampire.

"No, but could you hurry it up a little?"

"Always eager for the fight Ari, you idiot. Relax; you know that my sister will kick your butt, even if you catch her after that."

"I thought you were helping us so we wouldn't get our butts kicked, weren't you?"

"I can't give you extra fighting skills, and that's what you would need."

My sister was helping those bastards. I wasted my time in coming here, and I was needed back in Forks. I snuck out of the area, all the way back to the grounds. Then I hid in my old spot by the gate. I couldn't exactly sneak out with those mad scientists and madder experiments coming in and out of the gates. I noticed that whenever Ari had come in, probably with lunch to avoid notice, he had opened up the floodgates. Now there were workers from the School coming in and out of the castle like it belonged to them. I settled in for a long wait.


	7. Leaving

**Hey guys, I'm back from Europe. Yeah, while I was over there, my laptop broke. And no one in Europe carries the stuff to fix an American laptop. Then I came back and both my baby cousins live with us for over a week while their Papa is in the hospital. So they left, and then I start school. Now everyone is gone, I've gotten into the rythm of of school, and hopefully I'll be able to write again. This is really short, but I'm halfway finished with the next chapter, and you should think of this as a prelude, just getting everything into motion.**

**Disclaimer: I own a copy of Breaking Dawn, does that count?**

* * *

Group Fights Chapter 7

Ari POV

I glared at Artemis--she continued to needle me. That girl never gets a freaking hint. I wanted to punch something, light something on fire. I want to beat up the Flock, and then set their vampire friends on fire. I moved my glare over to the dark vampire on the other side of the room.

"Me and my team are staying here 'til time to go to Forks." The words came out a growl, finished off with a cruel smile.

"That's fine. Will you be staying in the castle?" With the vampire freaks? I'd rather shoot myself.

"We have a hotel."

"That is wonderful then. We will announce when we are ready to leave." I nodded, acting like Max's quiet little mutant admirer. Aro was so slow with al the planning. To make it worse, he was the fastest acting of all these super-powered weirdoes. I went to see my team, hoping for a fight.

"Any one up for practice?" Of course someone was. Artemis had followed me out of the Volturi's time capsule.

"Let's go, dog breath."

"Still using your sister's old names? Why not think of some of your own?"

"Nia's are so fitting." With that she punched me. We both shut up, distracted by our small war. Punches and kicks came from both of us. Mine were quicker, more likely to hit somewhere it hurts. So I didn't get my fun for long. "I win."

I continued that for a month. Fight with Artemis, and try to get the Volturi to move their asses. After the month was up, we got to leave. It was two days before then that the red head showed up. She was tall, and looked part cat. But she was a vampire. Aro introduced us. "Hello Ari, this is Victoria. She is the one who so much wants revenge on Edward. She has agreed to help us." I nodded. Artemis said, "Join the party, why don't you?"

Two days later, we went in the Volturi's private plane. Along with maybe twenty vampires. It was time for some fun.


	8. Fight

**AN: Hello, I have come back. I have to be the slowest update, I swear. I'm annoyed at myself. Well, here this is.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, not even the new MP3 and Kindle I so desire.**

Nia POV

Since I returned from Italy, this is what we'd been getting ready for. It took me a week to get back to Forks, and now, three weeks later, I was standing at the edge of a battlefield. I look around carefully.

Artemis stepped out of the trees. She was pretty, but _very_ dangerous. _We have some more company, _I thought, imagining her and the vampires she came out with for the benefit of Edward and Angel, they should be reading my mind if they weren't in pitched combat. That was my job for this fight, to spy. And maybe to kill anyone who is hanging back or away from everyone else for some reason. Max's assassin, it was the first time I'd ever really acted the part. But my serpent DNA made me the best sneak short of the vampires, and we really couldn't spare any of them from the fight. Even though I was missing the fight.

Artemis walked across the battlefield, and I noticed that she had picked up a more graceful way of walking with the Volturi. But I had trained her myself, and I knew she would have practiced. I'd bet she would be a good match for any of us now. But it was Adrian she sauntered up to. "You're mine." Adrian just nodded, setting himself up for the fight mentally. I stood back in the trees, watching my boyfriend get ready to tear my kid sister to pieces. Just as Adrian seemingly broke Artemis's jaw, I felt a searing pain down my back, right between my wings. My lurch forward became a spin as I twisted my body, muttering a profanity as I moved. An Eraser stood behind me, fully morphed. One claw was covered in blood. I saw red. That was, right up until I attacked.

I knew I looked like a demon. I relished it as I threw the first punch. I think it might have broken one of his ribs. I smiled. I lost track of the rest of the battle, and for once concentrated on my job. I felt blood on the knuckles of my right hand. Joy, he had somehow caught the back of my hand with a claw. "Damn." The cut went deep, almost to my knuckles. I pulled a knife out of the sheath on my leg. This was my best weapon, the one that I only used occasionally. Once I had that out the fight went faster.

My hands knew what to do with the weapon. All I had to think about was what my opponent was doing. He tried an uppercut. I blocked. With the blade. It cut down, hard. This time I laughed, way into my battle high. While he tried to figure out how to fight me one handed, I hit him in the head with hilt of my toy. No use in killing him, he wouldn't be able to move for quite a few hours. I moved on as I remembered that I was supposed to be watching the perimeter. I walked a few hundred feet so that I could see the open space where everyone else was fighting. Carlisle and Esme were both hanging back, they didn't want to have to hurt people, even people so cruel as these. But even without their help, my friends were holding their own. They didn't need my help.

I looked in particular over at Adrian. He wasn't fighting Artemis now, he had moved on to someone else. She was laying out on the grass, and looked at the least knocked out. I decided I didn't care, and slipped off. And by off, I meant away from the field of battle.

Max and Jasper had decided that I should be patrolling, but Edward had other plans.

"Hey, once you think that everyone who is going to be fighting is down there, go check on Alice and Bella, please. I know Jasper won't mind." And so I was heading over to the Cullens.

I flew, no harm ever came from using a bit of speed. "Bella, you alright?"

"Alice had to beat off two guys, I don't know who they were."

"Are _you_ alright?" Alice could take care of herself, even with mutants and other vampires running around.

"Yeah, I guess." I walked into the house. Alive came bouncing up to me, "Hey, both Erasers."

"Well, thanks for the info." She must have seen that I was going to ask. "Also, I've seen that we would be having a vampire visitor in about a minute and a half." I rubbed my bloody knife against a handy towel, not at all concerned with ruining the cloth. "All right, check this out."

I showed Alice where the Eraser I fought had caught me on the back, and again on my hand.  
"You're still in for Victoria." It didn't have to be a question, even if Alice didn't have the visions.

"Heck yeah. This will be fun."

I heard footsteps.

"Hey Vicky, I thought you were supposed to go fight with the army."

"I had other plans."

I laughed, and Alice danced out. I hung back this time, my blade would do very little against not granite. I went in with Bella, sizing her up.

"Let's go." She looked at me like I was insane. I could see some crap about Alice getting ready to leave her mouth.

"Don't even start that. Up." My sizing up had told me that she would be to heavy to carry on a flight. With a mental curse at myself for not teaching Bella some hand signs, I steered Bella towards the garage. I didn't even notice what the maker was until I was behind the wheel. I had chosen Edward's Ashton Martin. Good, it should have some speed. Alice was distracting Victoria, but even she would realize when the car tore off into the night. Which meant she had to be taken care of first, but that was okay, I wanted Bella in here for a double reason.

"Get into the back and change clothes. All the way down to the underwear."

"What do I change into?"

"My stuff. You'll smell terrible to them." She stripped down and switched. Then I slipped out of the car with a whispered, "Stay here."

I sat of the roof of the garage, smelling tauntingly of Bella. She must have fallen earlier today, because they were covered in her blood. More importantly, I could see both the only entrance to the building 

with Bella, and the yard where Victoria and Alice were fighting. My small friend was fine for now, so I settled into guard duty.

Thank God for hawk vision, I could actually see where the vampires were going. Alice was literally just dancing around Victoria, obviously using instant visions to tell where the attacks would be coming from. She was handling the job.

I heard a snap, and couldn't help but let out a small hiss of suppressed laughter when I saw that Alice had taken off one of Victoria's feet. Three minutes later, a swipe of Alice's hand sent her hand following it. Another small laugh. This one was heard, but only Victoria was distracted.

"I thought you had flown away little bird." I had cut holes in Bella's shirt before I had even put it on, so I was able to extend my wings. I glided down to meet a certain red headed idiot.

"I considered it, but this was turning into such a nice little show." I picked up her foot, lighting it with the match I had switched into Bella's pocket as part of changing clothes. "Missing something?"

I had to be scaring Alice. I was more animal then anyone here, even the Flock. I was normally in good control of this part of myself, but I was having too much fun to worry about it.

"Do you know how rare it is for me to do this? I guess you're special." Even as I spoke, Alice silently moved up behind her. In way less then a second, Alice was tearing Victoria to pieces, and I was just catching the bits of her that flew at me on fire. I'd never seen Alice this furious. It was fun to help her, even though I was missing out of the best part of the fight.

Eventually we got it all handled. I went to the car with Bella inside. Alice followed, already knowing my plans. "Sorry for making you wait, Bella. We just needed to take care of the problem outside first." Of course Bella knew what the problem was, but she didn't mention it. I looked over at Alice, who invited her to the backseat. "I'm going to try and get some visions. You drive." _Edward, Alice and I are taking Bella somewhere safe. Not sure where yet, but we'll get to that._ No Edward won't think we've been kidnapped, and we could get out of here.

No matter what danger was around me, it was always nice to drive a nice, fast car. I gunned the engine a bit more then was strictly necessary to pull up some speed, but that didn't matter.

"Where are we going?" Bella questioned me from the passenger seat.

"Not sure yet," I laughed. I glanced back at Alice. La Push, I decided silently.

"No, that won't work." I nodded, and then thought for maybe half an hour, thoughtlessly sending the car towards Seattle at 100 miles an hour. Then I shot off another silent thought. Seattle would be a nice place to spend the night.

"That one is good." Man, Alice's visions were awesome. I made my choice, and she told me whether or not it would work. Just then I noticed that Bella was breaking down. I wondered vaguely how long this 

had been going on for as I pulled the car over. Alice didn't object, so I brought Edward's precious car to a standstill.

"What's up, Bella?"

"Edward's back there, we have to go back. There's a whole army—"

"Bella, Edward can take care of himself." I remembered where the members of the Flock that had been forced away from the fight were staying. "Right now, we are going to meet with the rest of the Flock, where everyone will know where to find us."

"Edward. I can't just leave him, this is all my fault." Okay, I loved Bella better then my own flesh and blood (way better actually, considering recent events), but this could get very annoying.

"Bella, first of all this is probably my fault more then yours. Second, he's fine. Last I saw, they were basically just cleaning up. The only problem is that could take awhile, and some could slip through their net. And so we're getting out of there until everything is finished."

"Then why didn't Edward send me away in the first place?"

"He knew you wouldn't come. You only came with me because you were halfway into shock." I pulled back out into the road. Explain the shock to me, please."

"You left parts out of your story about the School." I grimaced, Alice had mentioned that she fought some Erasers, I guess one of them opened their fat mouths.

"Yeah. Sorry, I didn't really think it was that important. Who let it slip?"

"One named Harrison. He…he spoke as he fought."

"And of course you watched to make sure Alice was taking care of it, and you heard."

Inside I was grinning in conceited pleasure. This wouldn't last for any time at all, but for a moment Bella was distracted from Edward's non-existent danger by the horrors of the School.

It lasted longer then I thought, giving us another ten minutes before Bella even started to worry clearly again. I knew that she would have been unconsciously worrying since we all left this morning, but at least we had toned it down. Soon Alice's phone started ringing madly. I looked back at her, and the visions seemed to be calming down, but I knew that at the moment she wanted those glimpses of the future, she wanted to make sure that all the danger had been eliminated before we returned. I grabbed the phone.

"Hey, this is Alice's phone, but you can jabber to me instead."

"Is Alice alright?" It was Jasper, and of course he would have a mild freak attack if someone else answered Alice's phone, especially now.

"Yeah, just trying to get a vision. I'm playing secretary slash driver at the moment. Before Bella implodes, is everyone still breathing over there? I know they don't need to, but it gets the point across."

"Everyone is fine. Edward and Adrian are freaking out as much as Bella is though."

"I bet Adrian's quieter about it though. You still cleaning up?"

"Yes. Keep Bella up there for a little while please."

"I can manage that. Is that all you needed, to tell us that everyone was fine and to keep away while you finished up?"

"That was basically it." I laughed, even Jasper sounded a bit disconcerted with the way that I handled the conversation.

"Hey, you mind me talking to the others, namely Adrian and Edward? I'll bet Bells wouldn't mind speaking to the latter."

"One second."

The next voice I heard was Adrian's, even though I thought that I heard Edward's worried tones in the background.

"Hey you doing okay?"

"Yes," I repeated. Again. "All I got were two little love nips from an Eraser. Nothing worth even think about. You?"

"Not a single scratch on me."

"Sweet, save the rest of that discussion though." He knew that the discussion would be our separate views on the battle. "We need to let our two love-struck friends talk before the human one has a panic attack." Bella did look like she was on the verge of a panic attack, and a bad one too.

"We just don't fit the definition of love struck, do we? I'm not sure if vampires can have panic attacks, but if it's possible one is inevitable over here. Bye."

"Bye."

I handed the phone to Bella, and let Edward try to find non-existent injuries on her from the sound of her voice. I halfway listened to their conversation, making sure neither of them totally freaked out. Though, as we pulled into Seattle, I had to stop. I knew the way to where the Flock was staying, but I'd never been there. Alice had finished off her visions now, and I looked back at her.

"You know the way better then I do?" I was careful to whisper quietly enough not to disturb the others conversation.

"Yeah, and to help, I actually have a license." I laughed silently. I was going fast enough that being pulled over was a possibility, and I really didn't have a driver's license. How the heck was I supposed to prove my citizenship for one of those things? I stopped again, this time at a run down looking gas station to switch seats. I know Bella noticed, but she didn't take her attention off the phone long enough to notice. Alice looked back at me. "It's across the city." I nodded, I did know the way from what Max had told me. The only problem was the those directions had assumed that I would be flying. So I knew the way, it would just be hard to dive there.

"Half an hour across the city?" I asked Alice. I looked at the time, six in the evening on a Saturday. Half an hour would be breaking quite a few speed laws.

"About." I settled in for a bit more of a drive.


	9. Feelings

**Hey everyone here is my new chapter. This is really almost over, so sad. Read away.**

**Discliamer: Not mine.**

Jasper POV

I could hear my brother gently teasing his girlfriend. This was the happiest I had felt in a while, and the scary thing was that I wasn't feeling it. It was all Edward's, something that could make me smile and cringe at the same time. Smile, because this was good for my brother. Cringe, because I was envious. Alice had been so busy for so long, I hadn't gotten to spend a lot of time with her. I widened the circle of the area that I could feel, starting to pay attention to the rest of the family's emotions after the fight, making sure all of them were calm or happy. They were, and further more, most of them were with their significant other. I could tell from the love or lust or combination that emanated from all of them.

Next I checked out the Flock, knowing that Alice would want to know how they were when she got in. They all felt about the same—remorse, freedom, and a strange sense of togetherness. That last one I always got from them, even though it was weak in Nia and Adrian. The other six had it more strongly, and I wouldn't be surprised if they could sense each other's presence. Nia was slightly impatient, for some reason she wanted to get back here.

About then, Alice came in. "How do you feel?" I didn't answer her question with how I felt, but with how everyone else in the house was feeling at that moment. That was what she really wanted to know, she was just asking it with the usual cryptic air that she loved. As a direct result of her enjoyment of it, I loved it too.

"Happy, relieved, in love, remorse, freedom. Nothing strange."

"Remorse?"

"The Flock, I think they actually became fond of us."

"Of course they did." She came over and sat in my lap, her small body easily fitting on mine. She leaned her head into my chest. "Hmm... I like it here. Do you think that I can stay here for the rest of the day?" She turned that wide smile on me, adding in her bright eyes and a hug to convince me, acting like I might have objections to her presence.

"Of course you can." I felt her simple joy at being exactly where she was, and wrapped my arms around her waist. I felt her happiness spike at the contact.

"I love you."

"I know. I saw that happening before I had even met you." I pulled a bit closer to my body.

I didn't know exactly how long I laid there with my wife, my brothers and sisters in the house all around, sending love and desire through the whole house. I kissed Alice at least three or four times a minute. I heard music coming from the front room, and decided Edward was playing for Bella. It was her lullaby, and he was the only one in the family that could play that particular song.

All of out relaxing ended when Nia came in and Esme and Bella started fussing over her. Adrian slunk in behind her, obviously hoping to avoid the drama. I felt the nerves he had of anyone trying to fix him up and take care of him, he wasn't used to it. I grinned at him comfortingly, taking the edge off his worry.

"Hey guys," Nia called happily, feeling glad to be back and relieved that the house was a little less crowded.

"Are you hungry?" Were, rather predictably, the first words out of Esme's mouth.

"What kind of question is that? We're always hungry." I had noticed it, but I doubted anyone else did. Both of them ate all the time, it would be assumed that they were never hungry when they were here. Esme ran back to get some of the food we had set back for our now common human and part human guests.

"Do you want anything in particular?"

"As long as it's edible." Esme brought them something that smelled disgusting. Nia grinned, "Pomegranates! Dear God, I haven't had one of those in years. Thanks Esme." She quickly ate a few of the seeds, handing off half the fruit to Adrian.

"I'm not even going to ask the vampires, but so you want some Bella?"

"No, you look like you need it more."

Nia shrugged, not even looking up from the food. We all watched, and I could feel the family's wonderings on how she could stomach that stuff. She finished in a couple of minutes, and by that time Adrian had already been done for a few seconds. She looked up when Esme Came to pick up the rinds form the fruit.

"I can get that, just give me one second." She said with another grin. Her relief at a slightly emptier house turned into joking around and being less sarcastic.

"Well, with the Flock gone and current danger avoided, I have something to talk to Bella about. Without any super natural listening in, thanks." Alice was confused.

"But Edward can read your mind, he will hear everything anyways."

"Not if we're more then a mile or two away, right? We're going to Seattle. Adrian is staying here, and if Edward leaves the house then he is calling me, and I'm going somewhere else that I will think of on the spot to take her, and then see what happens."

Edward felt chagrined, as well as the anger and worry everyone else saw. "Why can't you tell her with me around?"

"Welcome to the world of most boyfriends, you've had it easy so far cause Bella's a sucker for anything you do."

I had a slight urge to laugh; it was pretty rare for a girl to tell off my brother like that, or anyone else in my family, really. Emmett did laugh, loudly.

"She got you there, bro."

Edward just scowled at him. Nia and Bella slipped out of the house, and I heard a vehicle starting up. I had a sudden feeling of mischief and satisfaction, and immediately looked over to Emmett. He wasn't behind it. Then I recognized the engine that was by this time pulling down the driveway. Alice's motorcycle. Edward was mad, now he was furious.

"I wonder what she had to do to convince Bella to get on the motorcycle. Since last time she tried that she was grounded." Emmett was curious; he wanted to know how to do that for himself.

"I want to know what possessed her. Bella is always getting not danger without going stupidly fast on a motorcycle."

Alice laughed at Edward's worry from my lap, amused that he would think that Nia's speed was stupid. "Relax, I doubt she will go faster then me, or you, would go with Bella on board."

"But she's not a vampire."

"She's not human either. She had special abilities, they will be fine." Edward grumbled and went back up to his room, no doubt to listen to music and mope until Nia got back with Bella. I didn't doubt that he would also listen to Nia's thoughts until they were out of range. Adrian followed him, silent as he had been since he had arrived. I quickly paid special attention to the emotions coming from him. The standard pessimism that I had grown accustomed to in the last few months and annoyance. I figured that he must not be in the mood to baby sit Bella's boyfriend for the rest of the day. I didn't blame him.

After I solved the puzzle of Adrian's silence, I turned back to my wife.

"Now, I've spent the last few minutes missing what we were doing." Alice shifted around until she was looking up into my face.

"I can sympathize."

With that, we headed up to our room just to enjoy each others company for a few hours.


	10. Talk

**AN: Hello, it's me agian. Hope you enjoy this, the fun is about to end. : ( So sad, story almost over. Anyways--on with the show.**

**Disclaimer: Three guesses.**

Nia POV

Adrian was pissed with me. He told me that Edward was over five times his age, and did not need a babysitter. I disagreed, and got him to sit at the Cullens anyway. I might have also pointed out that I was taking the motorcycle and that I wouldn't have room. Now Bella was hanging onto my back like her life depended on it, making me laugh through my helmet. She didn't need to be so afraid; I wasn't going to crash. And even if I did, I wasn't going very fast.

Just to prove my point, it took forever to get to Seattle. Of course, I was getting bored which wasn't helping. When we did arrive in Seattle, I parked the bike in a garage and started walking toward a café. Bella followed, mumbling something about promises.

"I'm guessing that someone at some point made you promise to never do something reckless. And I'm guessing that the person in question has the ability to quote entire Shakespearean plays in one sitting." I was, of course, talking about Edward, whom I had seen quoting Shakespeare to Bella whenever they watched one of the movies together.

She scowled at me. "Yes, and to make it worse, Charlie has made me promise to never ride a motorcycle."

"Yeah, but it was so fun to zoom out of their driveway, don't deny it. Now, I was going to tell you something."

"Something that involved stealing me away from my boyfriend and sticking me on a motorcycle?"

"Well, the bike was a spur of the moment decision. But to the rest of it yes. And I had no choice about removing Edward; he would kill me for talking about this one with you."

I was surprised that she didn't think of it herself. There were only two things that it put Edward in a murderously bad mood to talk about. A) Bella being in danger, and B) Bella becoming a vampire. Since I had just worked very hard to get Bella out of danger, it seemed unlikely that I would be here to discuss putting her in harm's way. Which left option B. An option that Edward was resigned to, but not happy with. And I was willing to bet that so soon after fighting to keep Bella alive, Edward wasn't going to be willing to do something that would, in his mind, kill her.

I grinned at her. "Why you becoming immortal, of course. Are you still planning on that happening?" I laughed at the look on her face. She looked surprised, and more than a little incensed.

"Duh I am. I would never think of giving this up," she held her wedding ring, sending across the idea that she was talking about Edward. Like I couldn't have gotten that on my own. "Just so I can be a weak human that everyone else has to protect? No, it's just--Edward has been so worried lately. I'm afraid that he will go back to feeling guilty if I have him do it."

"He will right now. But he'll get over it," no point in lying to the girl. "I was just going to ask you if you wanted me to talk to him about it." I would do it too. Even though I was sure it would either make him very angry at me or he would just try to kill me.

"Why are you so eager, I thought that you were--well, I thought that you didn't really care when it happened, so long as it all worked out all right."

"You're right. I don't really worry about the timing of things that aren't on some kind of limit. But see my friend, I think this might be. The wolves--mostly Jacob, but still--they weren't to happy to let you do this. I'm not sure how much patience they will end up having. And we might already be pushing it." Alright, let's clear some things up. In reality, I had been worrying over how this things timing was going down for a while now. That was half the reason Adrian agreed to help me. Generally speaking, Adrian would do almost anything for me when I looked worried. Maybe because I didn't look worried all that often, I was a pretty confident person. But Bella didn't need to know any of that.

"Do you think we need to hurry?"

"Not hurry, really. But putting it off until Edward is gunning for the idea probably won't end well. That was really all I needed to discuss with you. Let's go the produce store and then go to get some food."

"Why are we going to the produce store?"

"Two reasons. One: Adrian really likes those pomegranates and I want him to be less angry with me. And two: well, I really liked those pomegranates too." With a self-pleased smile, I dragged Bella back toward the bike. "Come on, even you will want dinner before we head back to Forks." And I want to eat before I returned to a very angry Adrian and an even angrier Edward. Who knows, between them this could be my last meal.

I had my backpack with me. I never left anywhere without it, by now it was just instinct to grab it. I now had four pomegranates in it, as well as some fast food I picked up. It should be plenty to at least show Adrian that I hadn't forgotten about him. There was also a box of bullets and a blade cleaning cloth. That was a heavy butt load of crap. We were just pulling into the range to Edward's abilities, and I was editing my thoughts. Actually, I was just thinking, "Look, I got her home, safe and sound. I can drive you know. Being in range for him meant that we were within a few miles away from him. I was going faster now then I had been when we left. Meaning I was at a little over 100 miles an hour. We would be there in about...maybe a couple of minutes.

Of course I was right. That was the sort of thing I was half made to do. Figure out how to take care of problems--fighting and war related problems. Like how long it would take to get to an enemy's camp. Or to get to my best friend's house, where she lived with a husband who was very, very annoyed with me. I had barely gotten myself off the bike before Edward had me half-pinned to the wall. "Where did you take her?

"Umm... Seattle, just like I said. You didn't follow, I didn't leave. Plus, they had pomegranates and unhealthy fast food. Which I brought to Adrian, and which you are now about to crush."

"And why do I care?" He had a point, he was probably not to happy with Adrian either.

"Maybe because if you asked your girlfriend, she wasn't to upset with what we just discussed. And I barely had her for an evening." And you don't want to beat the living crap out of me, Bella's watching us right now, remember. Take me outside or something, alright? Then we can fight to your heart's content, I added the last part in my thoughts, figuring Bella wouldn't approve of the idea. But it would really make Edward feel better to beat me up, and it wouldn't hurt. Too much.

"You took her on Alice's motorcycle. Why did you do that?"

"Is Alice angry with me? I just thought it looked like a cool ride. And I don't get to drive all that often when I'm not here."

Edward's eyes went black, and he growled as he released me. I cocked my head to the side, looking right at him. Then I shrugged, acting confused. Then I just walked away, not even glancing back to see exactly how mad he was. Now I had to deal with my angry boyfriend.

"Babysitting one hundred some odd year old vampires. Everyone's idea of fun." Adrian muttered in my general direction. I was surprised he spoke to me at all. Generally he got even quieter then he already was whenever he got angry.

"It certainly makes my list. Here," I passed him the fruit and food stuffs. "I figured angry teenage vampires wouldn't think to feed you, and Esme's already done that once. She wouldn't know that you needed more already."

He gave me a look. A what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-you look. "Feeling flippant?"

"A little." Now the look was a little different. Now it was a what-is-scaring-you-so-much look.

"Nothing." I said, giving him a look of my own. One that said that I was fine. I was really. Just a little worried about the wolves. And the fact that, while I was pretty sure Sam would stick by his deal, now the School knew and about vampires. And maybe the Pack as well. I was going to have to have another talk with them, and this one was not going to be fun. I had a feeling that it was about to become clear whether or not they could hate me more than they already did.

But first came pissing off a Mr. Edward Anthony Masen Cullen. Delightful. _Edward, I kind of need to talk to you. Come on up here. I'm getting rid of Adrian right now, and then I'll tell you what my little visit with Bella was about._

"Adrian, you might want to go hang out with Emmett or something. I'm about to talk to Edward. Also, I guess that you can just stop worrying about shielding your thought, 'cause that had to be annoying."

"This isn't over yet, Nia." I just nodded at him. Like I didn't know that he wouldn't be letting me get away with not telling him. Again. He would end up coming with me. It would probably end badly, but that was okay. I was used to it by now.

Adrian walked out the door, leaving me with a quick look. Edward walked right in, obviously having read one of our minds to find out when we finished.

"Where did you take her?"

"Like I said, just out to eat. See, I even fed her." _She was never in even danger. We didn't even go into the dangerous part of town Edward. And moreover, inside city limits the bike was easier to maneuver then a car is. And I'm not the best driver. See, it was for safety almost as much as fun._

"Almost." He growled.

"Well, it didn't add any harm, and I enjoyed it. Edward, you have got to calm down before I tell you what we were discussing." He took a few very deep breaths.

"Alright, Nia. I'm calm. Now, what did you need?"

_I needed to know if Bella was still going to be changed. Because I am about to piss off the Pack, and it should probably be done by then. _I figured thinking that was a good plan, so that when he blew up Adrian wouldn't know exactly how much I needled him. If he found out, Edward would have to get in line to kill me. And that line was getting long.

"What are you going to do with the Pack?" Now he was looking for a way out of doing it now. He knew that it would happen; he just wanted to put it off a bit more.

"Tell them that the School knows of vampires, and therefore there is a high likelihood that they know of the dogs." He gave one sharp nod, and I looked at his eyes. Black, very black. I decided that him being so calm was a bad thing, just like Adrian would be completely unruffled right before he shot someone.

"How long do I have?" Shit, that was a bad question. One that I did not want to answer.

"Two days." _After that, I have to tell them. Trust me; I'm not looking forward to it. Last time one Mr. Black barely managed not to take a swing at me._

"No." He crashed a fist into the wall, violence that kind of undermined his calm voice.

"She wants it you know. Why don't you just give it to her?"

"I'll be damning her. What kind of monster would wish that on the one whom he claims to love?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it, I just saw an awfully lot of irony in that. "We're all damned, brother. What difference does being a vampire make?" Oh crap. I called him brother. I might have meant it as another needle, but that didn't change how it felt. I always knew that Bella was my sister, I mean, my blood family didn't turn out so great, after all, but accepting her new family as my own seemed to be stretching God's charity just a bit.

"That's not true. There's no way Bella would go anywhere but to heaven." He was pacing now, some of his fake calmness having faded.

"Maybe, but same point. Hard skin and unearthly glamour wouldn't impact it if it's certain."

Still hadn't mentioned the brother comment, but that wasn't surprising. He had other things on his mind. "We are damned. We aren't human--we aren't even mortal."

"I'm not human. But them again, if there was ever someone who fit the going-to-hell profile it was me. I think I've hit whatever killing slash maiming limits there are set on those things. And I think you have to be sorry to be saved. Which leads straight back to my point. You're all in good shape for the heaven thing."

"I'll talk to Bella."

"She'll tell you to get a move on. Or some variation of that." I shrugged, unless she lost her temper, she would probably be a bit gentler.

"I know." He pinched the bridge of his nose. He had chilled out a little, and I took that as a good sign. _You might want to go ahead with talking to her. Bella really hates being left in the dark. _He nodded again, and this time he was resigned. Edward walked out the door, hopefully to speak to his wife.


	11. Change

**Hello, I'm back. My friend who lives in Germany had returned home, and I have the house to myself again. Woohoo. I just got this all wrapped up, and I'm posting it now. It's reallly late, bu quite long to make up for it. 15 pages on word, though I'm not sure how long that really is with all the annoying gaps word adds. Anyway, thanks to my wonderful beta Dr. Numanuma, and enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Three guesses.**

* * *

Edward POV

I was going to have to change Bella. My sweet, innocent love of a lifetime. She was going to become a monster. I didn't want this for her, and yet, it was the only thing she had ever truly asked for. And then Nia came in and said it had to happen soon. As soon as can be. So that she could piss off some wolves. I felt my temper boiling, and then dissipate into nothing. Jasper. I read his mind, knowing that he would be talking to me. _Sorry Edward, but I was afraid you were going to break something._ He was right, I was about to break something. _Bella's upset, you might want to come down here. _

I went down the stairs at vampire speed, making sure to slow down before I reached the bottom. When I walked up to Bella, it was as slow as any human. "Hey Bella. Let's go for a hike."  
She looked up, her brown eyes curious. I didn't doubt she knew what Nia had been talking to me about. She wanted to know the outcome. Walking over to where I stood she asked, "The meadow?"

"No, I thought we could sit by the river out behind the house." Not a real hike, but somewhere to go that was out of sight, and if everyone didn't try to eavesdrop, then it wasn't so close they couldn't help to hear. She took my hand, warming it unconsciously with her touch.

The walk to the stream didn't take too long, even considering how often I had to keep Bella from falling on her face in her endearing way. Another thing I would miss when she gained the perfect balance of a vampire. We were sitting on the banks of the water, letting it wash over our feet.

"I guess you realized what Nia wanted to discuss with me."I barely smiled; it was so small that I didn't know if Bella could even see it.

"The same thing that she took me to talk about. She didn't want to get in trouble with you only to find out that I had changed my mind. What do you think?" I could hear her nerves in that sentence. She probably thought that I was angry with her. I couldn't be, but I was furious with myself. I was the one that introduced her to this world of monsters. My feelings must have shown on my face, because she drew away. I flinched, hating that she could think that I was angry with her.

My emotions must have been really easy to read, as Bella automatically came closer to me. It served to remind me that Bella was more afraid of me being angry with her then what I was. She wanted to be what I was, so that she could be with me forever. I carefully smiled at her, reassuring her that I would never be mad at her.

"It's your choice, love. You already know my opinion, but if you decide you want it, then I will give it to you." I couldn't help but add the last sentence, but immediately felt bad for it when I saw the faint lines of a frown appearing on her forehead.

"You will make me a vampire?" Feeling guilty didn't stop her from making sure that I wasn't trying to trick her out of it.

"Yes, my dear Bella. I will make you a vampire." She smiled, and then she kissed me. I could feel how happy she was, and despite my unhappiness with the decision, I smiled into the kiss.

"When?"

My smile fell into a light frown. One that I made sure Bella thought was only me thinking. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in between my thumb and forefinger. "Probably the day after tomorrow."

For the first time I saw that Bella looked frightened of what she decided. "You don't have to do this, you know."

"I want to; I want to spend the rest of eternity with you."

"I love you, Isabella Marie Cullen."

"I love you, too," she murmured, leaning into my body.

We just sat there for about ten minutes, letting ourselves enjoy the sunny day. Then Bella suddenly sat up. "Let's go tell everyone what we decided. I'm sure that Alice has refused to tell anyone but Jasper, and Nia has tried to fight one of them over it by now."

I smiled, sure that my wife was telling the truth. Nia would be at Alice's throat if Alice didn't inform her, and Alice's love of surprise, mystery, and privacy for others meant that she wouldn't tell.

We walked up to the house, me listening into the thoughts of my family. _Edward, I know you're listening. You'd better stay clear of Nia's thoughts. She's thinking about the Pack. Also, Bella said she wants to be changed, and tomorrow would be a good day._ I stopped before I even really got started. Tomorrow. Bella wouldn't be the weak human anymore. Except that I had never thought of her as weak. She was one of the strongest women that I had ever met.

There were only two people in the living room when we entered. Bella gave Nia a small smile, and she leaned back against Adrian's chest lazily. I felt cold, the knowledge of what was going to happen making me want to leave, keep Bella from ever going through those three days of torture. Nia raised an eyebrow at me.

"Tomorrow."

"I'll go to the wolves tomorrow afternoon then. They really need to know as soon as possible." Adrian whispered into Nia's ear, and with my hearing it wasn't hard to understand.

"You need to tell them about Artemis as well." Nia looked upset, and for once I understood. The last blood relative she trusted betrayed her, even after she risked so much to save her.

"I will. I'm going to have to think of a way to tell them that without giving them a reason to come after us. They don't like me as it is."

Adrian didn't say a word, didn't even change his expression._ I think we're going to have to fight our way out of there. They don't like us, and Nia's about to make them madder. _I'd forgotten how often that Adrian and Fang suppressed whatever they were thinking. Adrian less often then Fang, but then again he only did it because if Nia saw that he was nervous about anything she wouldn't bring him. She was fiercely independent. Maybe we should arrange to be out of town for Bella's change, to make sure that the mutts didn't bring the fight here.

I wanted the last day of Bella's mortal life to be perfect. Perfect for her, and a perfect ending of seeing her safe from herself for me. Tomorrow would be the last day that she didn't have to worry about being a danger to someone by just being near them. She trusted me to keep her from hurting anyone, but how could I be sure? Sure that I wouldn't slip, wouldn't forget to check in on her at some point? If she ever hurt anyone, it would kill her. And it would be on my conscience.

Nia had restarted her whispering to Adrian, but I ignored them, distracted by my planning. Bella would have to spend time with her father, of course. It would be nice for her to get to spend time with Renee as well. Since we couldn't make it down to Jacksonville though, we would have to settle with a phone call. After Bella finished that, she would be very stressed. Which led me quite neatly to what we could do next. I would take her to the meadow. That would also give us a place to meet up with Nia. She could go from there to the wolves, and we could go to the house. That was when I would change her. If we had to go somewhere else, we wouldn't do it until she couldn't notice. She would be more comfortable in our house.

Nia took Adrian and slipped out of the room. I looked over at Bella, carful to make sure that I was smiling.

"Bella love, do you want to go tell the rest of the family?" She nodded, looking ridiculously nervous.

"You know they love you and want you to be a part of our family, right? They will be thrilled."

"All but one." It was true. Rosalie had been behaving nicely, but she wouldn't be thrilled with Bella's choice. Just not for the reasons Bella believed.

"It's not that she dislikes you Bella. She still doesn't really deal well with this life. She thinks that you're throwing away too much just to be with me." I wished that Rosalie's disapproval would keep Bella from wanting herself to be changed; I knew that it wouldn't work. Bella was one of the most determined people in the world, I didn't doubt.

"Maybe if I explained things to her..."

"I doubt it love. As I've told you before, Rosalie can be very pigheaded."

"I don't want her to hate me."

"She doesn't."

"Well, you can't tell me she thinks that I'm her sister, like she does Alice." Bella looked at me, worried, with an unsurprising amount of determination.

"It takes Rosalie a while to warm up to people. Just give her time."

"As long as she thinks that I'm wasting my life on what she no doubt thinks is a teenage shadow of true love, she won't come to think of me as worth her time and friendship. I need to explain to her, to tell her that I love you as much as you love me."

"I don't think that's possible." I smiled, showing her that I wasn't doubted her love. Just that anyone's love for any other person could match the way I felt about her. She smiled back at me, leaning over to give me a soft kiss. Venom pooled in my mouth, forcing me to pull back. I lead her over to the door, keeping her in my arms as we walked. Proving to myself that I could be controlled while I was near her. Even if it wouldn't be necessary for much longer, it was still a comforting idea. I wouldn't hurt her. Not by accident, anyways.  
"Everyone, we're back. We need to speak to you soon, if not now." Obviously now would do well, because all of them appeared at the door. Even Rosalie was there. _Let's meet in the dining room, there is more space there._ Carlisle is right; it is also one of the few places where no one will have a ready made excuse to sit in their lover's laps. Rosalie was not happy, and if we were in the living room, Emmett might decide that the best way to calm her would be to kiss her. Multiple times.

_Are you going to tell everyone that you are changing Bella? Nia is ready to kill for the information._ I nodded slowly, and saw Alice's eyes widen. Then she grinned--widely. This was the same room where Bella had gotten my family to side with her against me in damning her. It seemed ironically fitting that this be the room where we told everyone when Bella would be come one of us.

"Bella has asked again to be changed, and again I agreed. The difference this time is that Nia warned us that this had to be done soon. Bella is willing to speed things up, though she has heard my thoughts on the matter. We will do it the day after tomorrow."

"Good." It didn't surprise me that Nia was the first to speak. She stood from her seat and, far more surprisingly, gave Bella a firm hug. "You did well for yourself, Bella. I always thought that you would have amazing luck." She stepped back, but she wasn't near finished speaking. _You did well for yourself as well, Edward. You deserve each other, and are a ridiculously good match. Yes, I think you will enjoy the rest of eternity, brother of mine. _She smiled deviously at my surprised look. _No, dear sibling, it was no slip of the tongue or joke when I called you that. You didn't think you were like my brother by now? You're married to the closet person I have to a sister nowadays._

Nia thought all this through quickly, knowing that my family wanted to speak as well. But before she finished, she made herself the center of attention. "I'll be back in...Crap, I've never been good at this kind of planning." Adrian looks at her questioningly. He obviously hadn't been told that they were leaving. Though Nia spoke as though only she were leaving, everyone knew that Adrian followed her wherever she went. That's just how he was, even though to my knowledge they had never really talked about it. They both knew, and that was good enough.

Even without being told they were leaving, Adrian obviously knew how long Nia wanted to be gone. "We will be gone for the next day from Forks, but we probably won't see you for another four days." Nia looked at him, and nodded. To my knowledge, Nia very rarely made plans without some input Adrian, or Adrian without her, and I didn't know if this is how the plans always form. Also, I vaguely wondered how many of their plans were Adrian's. From what I had seen, Nia lead the two of them, and Adrian didn't mind. But I didn't doubt Adrian had more power then either of them cared to show. She smiled especially at Bella.

"I wish I could be here, but I haven't checked up on the Flock in days. And with everything going on lately, I have a feeling we should all see each other until one of us wants to take Adrian's pistol and shoot someone in the head.

I smiled lightly, not doubting that she was right. Adrian walked up to Bella and me, smiling quietly. "I wish you a good eternity." He walked off, thinking to himself. _I wish one for them, but I seriously doubt Nia and I will get them. I also don't think she only wants to check in on the Flock, though we will probably drop by--_I said farewell to Nia, but my focus stayed on Adrian's thoughts. He must have noticed, because he smirked over at me. _How much you bet we end up dropping in to scare Artemis? Nia is none to happy with her darling sister at the moment._ I gave him a smile of my own. I wouldn't mind seeing Nia have a discussion with the sister who betrayed her; no doubt she really would scare the girl. I didn't think she would hurt the girl, unless she decided it would be dangerous not to.

The two teens slipped to the back of the room, though they didn't look to be leaving. They let the rest of the family come over to congratulate us, and I knew that the next time Bella looked in their direction, they would be gone. Only inhuman beings could ever hear those two it they decided to go silently.

Alice was first of my family to come over. "Oh I am so happy for you. I knew he would say yes, but it was a bit sooner then Emmett thought it would be. He was the only other one who would venture an opinion."

Bella laughed. "Was it a bet or did he just come out and say something?"

"I just said something of course. I wouldn't bet against my dear sister here, that would just be stupid. Congrats sis, I knew Edward would break eventually."

"Thanks Emmett."

The family continued telling us of their pleasure, even Rosalie came over to add something.

"I hope you know what you're doing. Good luck." That was all she would give. But I could tell that even a little was enough to please Bella. She wanted so much to be liked by everyone. And no matter how many times I told her that Rosalie just wasn't sure that Bella was making the right choices, she would never believe me. She had a distorted view of her self worth. I nodded my thanks to my blonde sister.

After everyone had finished, I took Bella up to our room. "What do you want tomorrow?"

Bella looked at me, worried about something. Again I wished that I could read her mind, was she worried about the change. No, she hadn't looked upset until I mentioned tomorrow. "I would like to go see Charlie. Just one last time." She mumbled both sentences, and looked up at me through her lashes when she was done. She was worried that I would be upset? I had to know.

"What's wrong? We'll go see Charlie after he gets off from work. Or before, if you would prefer that."

"You're going to feel bad about all this, and when you remember my family it's going to make you feel worse. I don't want that."

"I'll be fine, Bella. There's nothing wrong on my end of all of this, I swear."

"You're lying." She looked miserable, but me telling the truth wouldn't help that. And I would lie for the next hundred years if I thought that it would be any more successful the truthfulness. Changing the subject was immature and silly, but that might just work.

"Adrian thought that they would end up doing more then just talking to the Pack and seeing the Flock."

"What was he thinking they would do?"

"Go see Artemis. He said Nia's not to happy with her, and they might need to talk a little."

"Are they going into Volturi Castle?" She was still worried of course, but now that she wasn't talking about me being hurt she looked better. Not good, but better would have to do for now.

"I doubt it. I don't think Nia gets to do that kind of thing as often when Adrian's around. Boyfriends and husbands both tend to put a stop to that kind of thing." I was careful to smile at little at that, after all the point was to relax Bella a little.

"I believe Fang does that kind of thing too. But don't mention that to Max."

"Not if you value the ability to remain peaceful." She laughed, and I smiled for real this time. Relief tended to make you do that sort of thing. But her worry soon returned.

"What's Nia going to do then?"

"I believe she was just going to poke around in the city and wait for Artemis to come out. I wouldn't be surprised if the Volturi sent her out for things they needed when the sun was out, and Nia's smart enough to see that. She also might be wanting to find out a little more about the terms of the alliance we recently met up with."

Bella nodded quietly, it did sound like her friend. I remembered Nia's congratulations thoughts. In the bird-girl's mind at least, we were her family and friends, along with the Flock. She had decided years ago that her parents belonged in the scrap heap, which I agreed with, and until a few months ago, it was too dangerous for her to speak with her sister. Now her sister had betrayed her. I could see how this group of people was all that she could call family.

We lay down on the bed that was now in our room, which is what used to be my room. Bella curled up against my body, and I carefully put a blanket in between us, trying to keep her warm. She drops off to sleep quickly; I only hummed a few notes before her breathing slowed. She smiled in her sleep, and I wished her good dreams.

Alice came in and smiled, "Nia's coming back once Bella is changed."

"What? She's human, or close enough. She can't come; Bella will have trouble not getting to see anyone. If she sees someone and attacks her, it would kill her." Our words were almost silent, but vampires didn't need volume to be understood.

"Nia smells almost as bad as a dog. I think that she wouldn't tempt even a newborn."

"Have you had a vision?" I saw in her face that she had, I didn't even need my powers.

_Yes. Here:_  
_Nia walked over to the house, except that once Adrian was in the lead. His face was turned, like he was talking back to her. She looked miserable, like someone who had seen or done something terrible. _

_In the next picture/vision, Bella was sitting with me on the couch. Nia was telling something, and this time she looked close to tears. She was gesturing with her hands about something as she spoke. Most importantly, Nia and Adrian didn't appear to be in any danger vampires. _

I nodded to Alice, and, having shared her information, she walked out the door. A short conversation, but she knew that I wanted to just relax for a few hours, and pretend to sleep beside Bella.

The night passed quickly, and I wasn't ready when Bella woke up. I never got bored in the nights, though I had talked to Nia and Adrian when they had stayed in Bella's room before the wedding. They stayed up half the night each, used to taking watch, and we would sometimes have a conversation. But tonight I had just laid down, and thought of nothing except how Bella looked, or just thought of nothing at all.

I smiled at Bella as she looked drowsily at me. "Morning, love. What do you want to do until Charlie gets off?"

"Breakfast and coffee," she looked far more tired then she should be after a night of peaceful sleep. And she very rarely asked for caffeine, it tended to have a strong effect on her. But she looked like she was about to go to sleep once again, so I decided that the coffee would have to come with breakfast.

"Let's go downstairs and find something for my beautiful wife to eat, hmm?"

I stopped my mind where it was. If I got the rest of the way down this staircase thinking like this, Bella would see it on my face. And if she saw it, then she would think I was mad at her and feel terrible. I distracted myself with what we had that she could eat for breakfast. It wasn't near enough to distract my mind, but I forced myself to think on that alone. It lasted me until I reached the bottom of the stairs, and then I had Bella herself for a distraction.

"What do you want?"

"Hmm..." Bella looked thoughtful, and I didn't doubt she really was thinking about it. "Do we have the stuff to make pancakes?"

"I'm sure Esme will have picked up everything we need to make whatever you would like." Sure enough, there was milk in the refrigerator, and flour in the pantry. Other ingredients were scattered around the kitchen. Bella started gathering it all up into one spot on the counter, and I let her. I didn't want to argue with her today, especially not over something like who would make breakfast.

Bella made her breakfast, walking into the table as she sat down to eat. I watched her as her jaw moved, as the crossed and re-crossed her legs.

We went into the living room, to watch some of Bella's favorite movies. One of her requests was that, other then seeing Charlie, today be low key. And, until my family got home from school, work, and wherever Esme had arranged to be, then that was what we were going to do. Truth be told, I wasn't going to mind a peaceful day with Bella in the least.

We watched movie after movie, letting the day just pass by at the pace of Romeo and Juliet and Pride and Prejudice. I made Bella a sandwich as she changed movies for lunch, and she ate as she watched the TV, leaning up against me. I spent as much time watching her as I did the movies, but I was enjoying myself.

Leaving the house at around three made getting out before everyone got home easy. We went straight over to Charlie's, even though usually I still thought of it as Bella's. Everything remotely related to Bella was hers to me. Everything was connected to her somehow, and everything was hers. Bella let us in, and went straight to the kitchen.

"I'm making us dinner. I'll bet he's been eating pizza and frozen dinners since I left. He deserves a good meal." She looked sad, and I wrapped my arms around her carefully.

"You can back out, you know. No one would be upset." I repeated the lie that I had told before, Alice and Nia would both be disappointed, even if they weren't angry.

"I want this. I just need to remember what I'm getting out of it." She smiled at me, though I could tell that it was only partially a true expression, "It's worth it. All of it." Bella thought that was the truth of it too, even if she was wrong. She thought that I was worth it, and I wasn't worth a quarter of the pain she would be going through.

I left the matter where it stood, Bella would never change her mind and it would only make it worse if she had to fight with me about it at this point. She got out all the ingredients for steak and potatoes, which granted weren't many. She fixed dinner, and I sat by the table just like we had done when Bella still lived here. I smiled as I watched here wander silently, to human ears at least, around the kitchen, moving things around and placing food in the oven.

We followed that small, simple pattern until Charlie came home. When he did, Bella had dinner ready and had moved to sit on the table beside where I stood.

"Hey Dad, I made you some dinner." She smiled at him, and I felt my guilt at taking this away from her surge.

He smiled back, reminding me of something else to feel sorry for. I was taking her away from her father, a man who had come to need her in the last months. He looked at the two empty plates on the counter, ready for Bella to put the hot food on them. Then he looked over to me. _That boy never eats anything. I wonder if he's even planning on staying. _I took that as my cue.

"I'm only here for a moment. Carlisle wanted me to look into a college's programs, but I wanted to say hello."

"Oh. Hello, then."

I gave my mildly surprised wife a kiss, murmuring, "He deserves to have his daughter to himself for a few hours. After all, I get you forever." She nodded to me with an extra-large smile, and gave me a kiss in return.

"I'll see you after dinner." This time my voice was loud enough for Charlie to hear.

"I love you."

"More then the world."

With that, I left. I had lied to Charlie about the colleges of course, but I was planning to look and see if Nia and the Flock could come into the house with Bella being a newborn. I knew they didn't smell good, and that might be enough to make it safe enough for them. And if I didn't do it now, I would have to do it sometime in the next three days while Bella was changing. I wasn't going to leave her side then, so that left now to get things done.

I sat across from Carlisle as I explained to him what I was worried about. Nia planned on coming as soon as Bella was changed, without even thinking about his oldest friend's new needs and insatiable thirst.

"I would think it would be fine. The Flock smells no better then birds or, in Nia's case, reptiles, neither of which are frequently ravaged by vampires, no matter how thirsty they are. I wouldn't add that worry to what you are already facing, Edward. You have plenty to think about."

_Everything is going to be fine, Edward. It's understandable to be upset, but you need to relax a little. I know it sounds foolish, but your worry is going to start worrying Bella soon, if it hasn't already._

I gave one deep nod. He was exactly right about Bella, but I didn't see anything I could do to stop the worry. I left the house and went on a walk though the woods, taking small game as I went. Small game was disgusting and I wasn't really thirsty, but I wouldn't be hunting for the next three days, and that entire time I would smell Bella's enticing blood. I would even go hunting again tonight after Bella went to sleep.

After hunting a little, I went to pick Bella up from Charlie's.

"So Edward, what did the college programs look like?" asked Charlie easily.

"They looked informative, but it was chiefly medical classes, and I know that Bella isn't at all interested in any of that. But Esme said that there is another school in the same city that offers more in English, so they want me to go and look at them both with Bella after she sees the course list." Another lie of course. Not very well told at that, but I was distracted. Early tomorrow morning, I would have to kill my wife. I would do it, and even if the Devil didn't have my soul already, he would have it after this.

Bella, sensing my worry and impatience to leave this house and the requirements of acting human it involved, politely and almost unnoticeably hurried our departure. In less then ten minutes we were in the car, and in less then fifteen we were at my house, thanks to my driving.

Our house was quiet, the family settling down out of new made habit to allow Bella to sleep. It was only then that I noticed that we had stayed out until ten or eleven in the evening. We didn't need to worry about what everyone would do when they got home to make us relax, because for the most part we had avoided them.

Bella slept through the night, although her dreams bothered her. She tossed around on our bed, begging someone, "not to touch him. Please don't hurt him." Only Bella's nightmares would focus on someone else's safety on the eve of her death. "Shhh... I'm right here, love. No one is getting hurt. I swear to you, no one will be hurt." What I liar I was. In less then 12 hours, she would be in agony. I touched her face, played with her hair. She hummed lightly, and leaned her head into my hand. Her dreams soon quieted.

It was early in the morning when Bella woke up. She smiled at me quietly, "Judging from last night's dreams, sleeping won't be something I miss." I kissed her, inhaling her scent deeply. She stopped breathing for a moment and I smiled as I backed away.

"I'm going to miss comforting you in your sleep love." My smile because something sadder, I could feel it. But I couldn't stop it form happening.

"Come on, I want some breakfast." _How much do you bet she throws it all up later?_ I heard Emmett think. But Esme's mind obviously worked differently, and there were pancakes on the table when we walked in.

"Here you go, Bella dear."

"Thank you Esme. You didn't have to do this, you know."

"I wanted to." Bella ate in small, clean bites, and talked easily to each member of the family that walked in. I saw her nerves, and Jasper would be able to feel them, but I doubted that anyone who didn't know her would notice. She had gotten better at hiding what she felt.

After she finished the meal, I slipped my arms back in their comfortable position around her waist. "Are you certain?" She flashed me a smile and kissed the hollow of my throat.

"Positive."

Moving so that I was holding her hand, I lead the way to my bedroom. She laid on the bed as I got out a syringe of morphine. I wasn't sure how much it would do, but it had to be worth a shot. The needle slipped easily into her vein, and I suppressed a shudder. Even with the morphine (if it helped at all) this was still going to hurt him. Her eyes drooped a little, and she smiled at me. The smile grew on her sweet lips as she grabbed my hand to kiss it. That was all she could reach until I lowered my head to kiss her myself. Then, as quickly as my supernatural abilities would allow, I moved down to bite her neck. Then each wrist.

"Thank you, Edward."

I savagely bit my lip as I mentally praised the inventor of morphine. I didn't know yet if it would help with the pain, but it made Bella's blood taste off, making it easier to back off. Not easy, but easier.

"I don't deserve your thanks, love." It was quiet, too quiet for her to hear, and it didn't make me feel nay better. But I said it anyways. I was telling the truth, the miserable, deadly truth.

"Edward, it burns Edward." She didn't calm until I grabbed her hand.

"Shh... it will all be better soon. Just a few days. I love you, more then anything." She stopped screaming, letting the sound fade into whimpers. _Edward, I'm sorry, I can't stay. I've got to leave._ Jasper's thoughts came at me with a wash of guilt. I soon realized that that it was my own feelings as Jasper released his hold on my emotions. My guilt of twenty seconds before was nothing compared to now, and I couldn't blame Jasper for leaving. This is what he was dealing with?

Every time Bella let out a whimper, a new part of my body started to burn. I thought for a moment that I was being changed again, that _I_ was being damned again. But then Bella whimpered, and I remembered. I wasn't damning myself that had been done years ago. I was damning Bella. Bella. Beauty. The Italians had it wrong. She was far more then beautiful, even as her face was twisted in pain and her hands grabbed at my shirt desperately. And I was killing her.

For three days, Bella was in agony. I felt all o fit as if it happened to me, and I wandered between guilt and simple physical pain. I preferred the pain, but guilt was what I deserved. That and more. I couldn't tell how time passed, or who of my family came to check on us. I couldn't even say when Nia and Adrian arrived, or the Flock.

Them it ended. As suddenly as if Jasper had returned out of pity, my pain stopped. I still felt guilty, but I could do more then just stare at Bella's perfect face. I listened for the thump of her heart, or the sounds of her pain. They were gone, and she languidly showed herself out before opening her eyes. Blood red, and more beautiful then I've seen the color.

"Hello, Edward."

"You're beautiful. Are you okay?"Alright, it was a random time to mention her beauty, but she was gorgeous. Over all the changes were limited. She was still a head shorter then me, with the same perfect waves of brown hair. Her curves were more pronounced, and her fingernails were no longer the bitten ruins that I found so cute.

"No, I'm thirsty." I cold see her eyes becoming darker, turning into the dark red of drying blood.

"Let's go hunting." I'm in need of something myself."

With a broad grin, I opened a window. "Why don't we avoid the family until we've had something to drink?"

"Sounds good to me."

I went out first, catching her as she jumped out the window. For the first time ever, she didn't feel warm as she touched my skin. She felt normal, as if I had touched the flesh of anyone else in my family. But one thing didn't change. She still felt perfect in my arms, as if I was made to hold her. Despite that, I set her down to walk to the car. She wouldn't like being carried. I drove us far into the mountains, making sure we will miles from the nearest humans. I took the keys out of the ignition and put them in the glove box. There was no one around to steal them, and they would likely get lost on the hunt.

"How do I do this?" I moved to stand behind Bella in the trees, putting my hands on her waist.

"Breathe in, deeply. Do you smell something particularly good?" I smelled the air carefully, making sure before I gave her the last instruction. No humans, she could hunt safely. "Go after it. Go after what you want."I let go of her waist as she ran off. I pulled in more air, wanting to see what she had chosen. Elk, I didn't find it particularly appetizing, but she must have seen something in it. I wandered the woods myself, taking a couple of animals. Not much, but I had hunted well before I changed Bella, and I wasn't really thirsty. I had just wanted to teach Bella to hunt.

And hunt she did, for hours. I watched her after my two quick takes. She was beautiful, dangerous. Every movement would terrify and captivate, every sound was fearful music. When she was finished, there was blood on her formerly blue shirt, as well as sweat and tears from the change. Her face was clean, but the extra mess on her sleeve showed where she had wiped it off. Her smile was predatory but satisfied, showing that she was finished hunting for the day. Far fiercer then anything the human Bella would have shown, but still showed the compassion that was such a big part of her. More then anything that compassion reminded me that she hadn't really changed.

"I want to see everyone." I reached over to give her a hug, and she cringed away.

"I'm ruining your shirt, stop."

"I don't care. Don't worry. I haven't really hugged or kissed you for three days." Of course she worried about me. If not myself, then my belongings. Like I cared.

But the objections ended, and I debated whether I wanted to anger her be carrying her to the car. Then she started running. And I lost all thought about stopping her. She was so graceful, running past me like an angelic spirit. I chased after her, watching her hair whip around her face and her leg muscles stretch and contract. The Volvo came up in front of me, but I didn't know that I wanted us to stop. We did, so I opened the door up for Bella before hopping over the silver roof to open my own door.

"I told you hunting wasn't hard."

"It really isn't. Who all is at the house?"

"You really need to learn everyone's scent." I listened carefully around, I could hear their thoughts, and I could smell them, though it was just the trail they all left around here by walking out so often for privacy.

"That doesn't answer my question." Her tone was chastising, but I could see her grin.

"Sorry love. All our family, and all the Flock."

"Do either of these groups include Nia and Adrian?"

"They are part of out family, even if they are a little distant." The smile Bella gave me would be worth anything, and I was for once telling the truth. The Flock were close friends, but Nia was family. Nia hadn't told the whole story of every time she did it, but we all know she went by every so often to clear up things with the wolves.

In the driveway, everyone's thoughts went into overdrive. _Hurry up, I want to see her. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. The wolves are pissed, but not worth too much worry._ Emmett, Jasper, and Nia were the loudest, it kind of made sense. Emmett would be excited and loud, Jasper was feeling bad, and Nia wanted to share the new information on the wolves.

We walked in the room, and I nodded at Nia. I also made myself feel accepting and forgiving to show Jasper that I understood, though it wasn't hard to do. It wasn't his fault; it was mine. He looked at me gratefully. Then, to my shock, he got up to give Bella a hug.

"I'm glad that Edward found you, the emotions around here are so much better now."

"Thank you Jasper." I saw her look of pure joy, she had always worried about the distance Jasper was forced to keep, although she didn't blame him. Everyone came for hugs, even the Flock. Adrian and Fang even gave her a smile, although neither were big on hugs.

"Hey Bells, you look amazing."

"How long do you get to stay this time?"

"Umm... until something or someone throws me out."

"Good, you're going to be here a while." Of course, a sort of human that Bella could be around safely. They sounded like good people to have around to me, they would notice things she did that weren't average for humans even quicker then we would, and Bella loved hanging out with me. I didn't doubt that Nia and Adrian at least would be here for a while, even if the Flock left sooner.


End file.
